The Impact of Host Language Proficiency on Migrants' Employment Outcomes

Lukas Schmid

American Economic Review: Insights, 2023, vol. 5, issue 4, 477-93

Abstract: This paper estimates the economic gains from proficiency in the host country's language on migrants' employment outcomes by exploiting the exogenous placement of refugees to Swiss cantons and a sharp language border dividing German- and French-speaking regions. Using administrative data on African refugees who applied for Swiss asylum between 2008 and 2017, I compare French-speaking refugees assigned to the French-speaking region to French-speaking refugees assigned to the German-speaking region and adjust for common regional differences with outcomes from English-speaking African refugees. The results suggest that language proficiency more than doubles the employment level in the first five years after arrival.

JEL-codes: J15 J24 J31 J82 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20220386

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