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Language Proficiency and Labour Market Performance of Immigrants in the UK

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Author Info
Dustmann, Christian () (University College London, Department of Economics and Institute for Fiscal Studies and IZA, Bonn)
Fabbri, Francesca (University College London, Department of Economics)

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Abstract

This paper uses two recent UK surveys to investigate labour market performance, the determi-nants of language proficiency, and the effect of language on earnings and employment prob-abilities of non-white immigrants. Our results show that language acquisition, employment prob-abilities, as well as earnings differ widely across non-white immigrants, according to their ethnic origin. Language has a strong and positive effects on employment probabilities. Furthermore, lack of English fluency leads to substantial earnings losses of immigrants. While earnings of white and ethnic minority natives develop in a similar manner, there is a large earnings gap be-tween these two groups, and ethnic minority immigrants. English fluency contributes considera-bly to reducing these differences. Addressing the problems of measurement error and unob-served heterogeneity in language variables, our results indicate that measurement error in the language variable leads to underestimation of the importance of language for employment prob-abilities and earnings in straightforward regressions. In comparison with results found for other countries, language proficiency seems to be more important for labour market outcomes of UK 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 156.

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Length: 55 pages
Date of creation: May 2000
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp156

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Related research
Keywords: Economics of minorities; human capital formation; immigrant workers;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
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
J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
R23 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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. Nickell, Stephen J, 1980. "A Picture of Male Unemployment in Britain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 90(363), pages 776-94, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Blackaby, David H, et al, 1997. "A Picture of Male and Female Unemployment among Britain's Ethnic Minorities," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 44(2), pages 182-97, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Dustmann, Christian, 1994. "Speaking Fluency, Writing Fluency and Earnings of Migrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 133-56.
    Other versions:
  4. 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)
  5. Eckstein, Z. & Weiss, Y., 1999. "The Integration of Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in the Israeli Labor Market," Papers 33-99, Tel Aviv.
  6. George J. Borjas, 1994. "The Economics of Immigration," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1667-1717, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Chiswick, Barry R, 1980. "The Earnings of White and Coloured Male Immigrants in Britain," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 47(185), pages 81-87, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Timothy J. Hatton & Stephen Wheatley Price, 1999. "Migration, Migrants and Policy in the United Kingdom," IZA Discussion Papers 81, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  9. Stewart, Mark B, 1983. "On Least Squares Estimation When the Dependent Variable Is Grouped," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(4), pages 737-53, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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