CHAPTER NINE RECRUITMENT PRACTICES OF LABOUR MIGRANTS IN ISRAEL: THE CASE OF THE DOMESTIC CARE SECTOR NONNA KUSHNIROVICH AND REBECA RAIJMAN Introduction Labour migration from less developed countries to developed immigrant-receiving societies has been the focus of much research during the last fifty years. These studies have tried to explain the initiation and reproduction of migration flows suggesting several theoretical models (see Massey et al. 1998). Generally, these (mostly economic) models tend to focus on the supply side (migrants’ socio-demographic characteristics, and the push-pull reasons that motivate their move such as wage gaps) or on the demand side (the economic structure of the host-society and employers seeking cheap labour) to account for human migration. Sociologists have also suggested examining the role of social networks and the complex infrastructure of entrepreneurial actors and institutions that facilitates and sustains population movements between the two or more countries. Research on the social process of international migration has shown that migrants are linked to each other through social networks that connect origins and destinations, and provide information, contacts and resources to cross borders, and to find employment (Massey el al. 1987, 1998; Massey and Espinosa 1997). These social networks are defined as “engines of migration” (Phillips and Massey 2000). Another engine of migration is the so called “migration industry” or “migration business” which consists of actors and institutions that make a profit from the commodification of labour migration (Salt and Stein 1997; Hernandez-Leon 2005). It comprises activities such as labour recruitment,