The Returns to Language Skills in the US Labor Market

Ingo Isphording and Mathias Sinning ()

No 7080, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper uses data from the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS) to study the returns to language skills of child and adult migrants in the US labor market. We employ an instrumental variable strategy, which exploits differences in language acquisition profiles between immigrants from English- and non-English-speaking countries of origin, to address problems related to endogeneity and measurement error. We find significantly positive returns to language skills and demonstrate that education is an important channel through which language skills affect wages of child migrants. Although the returns of adult migrants do not depend on education, we find that child and adult migrants exhibit similar returns to language skills.

Keywords: international migration; language skills; labor productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2012-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-lma and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Returns to Language Skills in the US Labor Market (2012)
Working Paper: The Returns to Language Skills in the US Labor Market (2012)
Working Paper: The Returns to Language Skills in the US Labor Market (2012)
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