IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joimai/v18y2017i1d10.1007_s12134-016-0478-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

English as a Border-Drawing Matter: Language and the Regulation of Migrant Service Worker Mobility in International Labor Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Geraldina Polanco

    (California State University)

  • Sarah Zell

    (University of British Columbia)

Abstract

This multi-sited study in Canada, Mexico, and the Philippines examines how appraisals of English language competence transnationally mediate labor market entry for temporary migrant workers. Focusing on “low-skilled,” interactive service sector jobs, we show how border drawing along English language lines contributes to the regulation of access to global labor circuits and the segmentation of workers into occupational niches. Mediated by the migration industry, English linguistic capital acts as a marker of status and occupational desirability, shaping and reinforcing employer preferences and (re)defining the “properly embodied” service sector worker. This has implications for the social (re)organization of labor markets and the mobility options available to migrants and their sending states across sectors and scales.

Suggested Citation

  • Geraldina Polanco & Sarah Zell, 2017. "English as a Border-Drawing Matter: Language and the Regulation of Migrant Service Worker Mobility in International Labor Markets," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 267-289, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:18:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s12134-016-0478-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-016-0478-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-016-0478-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12134-016-0478-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 2003. "The complementarity of language and other human capital: immigrant earnings in Canada," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 469-480, October.
    2. Christian Dustmann, 1999. "Temporary Migration, Human Capital, and Language Fluency of Migrants," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(2), pages 297-314, June.
    3. Philip Kelly & Tom Lusis, 2006. "Migration and the Transnational Habitus: Evidence from Canada and the Philippines," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(5), pages 831-847, May.
    4. Kossoudji, Sherrie A, 1988. "English Language Ability and the Labor Market Opportunities of Hispanic and East Asian Immigrant Men," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(2), pages 205-228, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chantal Robillard & Janet McLaughlin & Donald C. Cole & Biljana Vasilevska & Richard Gendron, 2018. "“Caught in the Same Webs”—Service Providers’ Insights on Gender-Based and Structural Violence Among Female Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 583-606, August.
    2. Mark D Easton & Andrea M Noack & Leah F Vosko, 2021. "Are franchisees more prone to employment standards violations than other businesses? Evidence from Ontario, Canada," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 32(1), pages 39-64, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    2. Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 2014. "International Migration and the Economics of Language," IZA Discussion Papers 7880, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Aldashev, Alisher & Gernandt, Johannes & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2009. "Language usage, participation, employment and earnings: Evidence for foreigners in West Germany with multiple sources of selection," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 330-341, June.
    4. Gao, Wenshu & Smyth, Russell, 2011. "Economic returns to speaking 'standard Mandarin' among migrants in China's urban labour market," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 342-352, April.
    5. Chiswick, Barry R., 2008. "The Economics of Language: An Introduction and Overview," IZA Discussion Papers 3568, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Dafeng Xu, 2015. "Labor Market Outcomes of Highly Educated Immigrants: Does Your Name Matter?," ERSA conference papers ersa15p51, European Regional Science Association.
    7. Frederik Thuesen & Vibeke Jakobsen & Nina T. Dalgaard & Bjørn C. A. Viinholt, 2020. "PROTOCOL: Interventions to improve the economic self‐sufficiency of unemployed immigrants from non‐Western countries," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), December.
    8. Christian Dustmann & Arthur Van Soest, 2002. "Language and the Earnings of Immigrants," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 55(3), pages 473-492, April.
    9. Dafeng Xu, 2015. "Acculturational Homophily in Friendships based on English-Name Usage: A Natural Experiment," ERSA conference papers ersa15p899, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Chunbei Wang & Le Wang, 2011. "Language Skills and the Earnings Distribution Among Child Immigrants," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 297-322, April.
    11. Dustmann, Christian, 1997. "The effects of education, parental background and ethnic concentration on language," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(Supplemen), pages 245-262.
    12. Omar S. López, 2023. "Bilingual competency in U.S. occupations: resetting expectations about language in American society," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    13. Chakraborty, Tanika & Bakshi, Shilpi Kapur, 2016. "English language premium: Evidence from a policy experiment in India," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-16.
    14. Donald R. Haurin & Stuart S. Rosenthal, 2009. "Language, Agglomeration and Hispanic Homeownership," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 37(2), pages 155-183, June.
    15. Longva, Pal, 2001. "Out-migration of immigrants : implications for assimilation analysis," Memorandum 04/2001, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    16. Mukhopadhyay, Sankar, 2020. "Language assimilation and performance in achievement tests among Hispanic children in the U.S.: Evidence from a field experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    17. Santiago Budría & Pablo Swedberg, 2019. "The impact of multilingualism on host language acquisition," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(4), pages 741-766, November.
    18. Reichl Luthra, Renee, 2010. "Assimilation in a new context: educational attainment of the immigrant second generation in Germany," ISER Working Paper Series 2010-21, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    19. Christian Dustmann, 1999. "Temporary Migration, Human Capital, and Language Fluency of Migrants," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(2), pages 297-314, June.
    20. Chiswick, Barry R. & Taengnoi, Sarinda, 2007. "Occupational Choice of High Skilled Immigrants in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 2969, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:18:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s12134-016-0478-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.