LABOR MARKET ASSIMILATION OF IMMIGRANTS: THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE SKILLS

Walter McManus

Contemporary Economic Policy, 1985, vol. 3, issue 3, 77-89

Abstract: The pending Immigration Reform and Control Act (Simpson‐Mazzoli) would require current illegal aliens to demonstrate minimal proficiency in English or to enroll in an English language class to attain permanent‐resident status. This paper examines the importance of English language skills in the assimilation of immigrants. Data on 1975 earnings for men from 11 language /ethnic groups are used. English skills are found to play an important role in determining the earnings of immigrant and minority‐language men in the U.S. Costs of deficiencies in English are substantial for most immigrants—more than $1,000 per year for eight of the 11 groups.

Date: 1985
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1985.tb00809.x

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:3:y:1985:i:3:p:77-89

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://ordering.onl ... 5-7287&ref=1465-7287

Access Statistics for this article

Contemporary Economic Policy is currently edited by Brad R. Humphreys

More articles in Contemporary Economic Policy from Western Economic Association International Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().