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Language Skills and Immigrant Adjustment: What Immigration Policy Can Do!

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Author Info
Chiswick, Barry R. () (University of Illinois at Chicago and IZA Bonn)
Miller, Paul W. (University of Western Australia)

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Abstract

This study provides an account of the dynamics of the dominant language adjustment process among immigrants in Australia using the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia, which comprises two cohorts of immigrants that arrived in Australia around five years apart. There are two special features of these data that provide the framework for analysis. First, the visa class under which the immigrants entered Australia is known from administrative records. Second, between the two surveys, some visa classes, but not others, were affected by changes in government policy relating to the role of English language skills in immigrant selection. A difference between differences approach is used to isolate the impacts of these policy changes, and thus enable an assessment of what immigrant selection policy can do in this area. It is found that visa category, educational attainment and age at migration impact on immigrant’s language skills. The increased English Proficiency requirement for the Independent and Skilled-Australian Sponsored categories appears to have been successful in raising the English language proficiency of these immigrants.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1419.

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Length: 65 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1419

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Related research
Keywords: immigrants; immigration policy; language; visa category;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Barry Chiswick & Paul Miller, 1996. "Ethnic networks and language proficiency among immigrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 19-35, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 2004. "Linguistic Distance: A Quantitative Measure of the Distance Between English and Other Languages," IZA Discussion Papers 1246, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Chiswick, Barry R & Miller, Paul W, 1995. "The Endogeneity between Language and Earnings: International Analyses," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(2), pages 246-88, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Chiswick, Barry R. & Lee, Yew Liang & Miller, Paul W., 2002. "Immigrants’ Language Skills: The Australian Experience in a Longitudinal Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 502, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  5. Barry R. Chiswick & Paul W. Miller, 1999. "Immigration, Language and Multiculturalism in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 32(4), pages 369-385. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Chiswick, Barry R. & Lee, Yew Liang & Miller, Paul W., 2002. "Family Matters: The Role of the Family in Immigrants’ Destination Language Acquisition," IZA Discussion Papers 460, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Barry R. Chiswick & Yew Liang Lee & Paul W. Miller, 2004. "Parents and Children Talk: The Family Dynamics of English Language Proficiency," CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0403, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Chiswick, Barry R. & Lee, Yew Liang & Miller, Paul W., 2002. "Immigrants’ Language Skills and Visa Category," IZA Discussion Papers 471, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Barry R. Chiswick & Yew Liang Lee & Paul W. Miller, 2006. "Immigrant Selection Systems and Immigrant Health," IZA Discussion Papers 2345, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Chiswick, Barry R., 2008. "The Economics of Language: An Introduction and Overview," IZA Discussion Papers 3568, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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