Schmid, Lukas
The impact of host language proficiency on migrants' employment outcomes - The American Economic Review: Insights - 5(4), Dec, 2023: p.477-493
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.- Reproduced
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aeri.20220386
The impact of host language proficiency on migrants' employment outcomes - The American Economic Review: Insights - 5(4), Dec, 2023: p.477-493
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.- Reproduced
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aeri.20220386