Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/69460 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7080
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
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.
Subjects: 
international migration
language skills
labor productivity
JEL: 
F22
J24
J31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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