Data and Code for: The Impact of Host Language Proficiency on Migrants' Employment Outcomes

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Lukas Schmid, University of Lucerne

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
  01_Raw_data 01/13/2023 07:59:AM
  02_Processed_data 01/13/2023 07:59:AM
  03_Codes 02/21/2023 07:20:AM
  04_Results 01/13/2023 07:59:AM
README.pdf application/pdf 191.3 KB 02/21/2023 02:16:AM

Project Citation: 

Schmid, Lukas. Data and Code for: The Impact of Host Language Proficiency on Migrants’ Employment Outcomes. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2023. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-11-27. https://doi.org/10.3886/E183861V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary 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. 
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources European Research Council's European Union's Horizon 2020 (804307); Swiss National Science Foundation (166172)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Language; labor market outcomes ; exogenous placement
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      F22 International Migration
      J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
      J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
      J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Switzerland
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1/1/2008 – 12/31/2017
Universe:  View help for Universe Refugees with status F who were exogenously assigned to cantons in Switzerland


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V1 [2023-11-27]

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