Arbeitspapier
The returns to occupational foreign language use: Evidence from Germany
This paper analyses the wage premia associated with workers' occupational use of foreign languages in Germany. After eliminating time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity and other confounding factors, sizable returns of about 10 percent to applying fluent English skills are found. Returns to occupational use of other foreign languages are, if anything, restricted to a few specialized occupations. Compared to non-migrants, immigrants receive more than twice the return for using English. Returns depend crucially on speaking German well, thus excluding many first generation migrants and are found to occur particularly in service occupations that involve international factor flows. In such occupations it is likely that migrants can apply complementary skills such as international experience that their non-migrant counterparts lack. As immigrants do not earn significant wage premia for applying their native language on the job in addition to those for English, their trade-fostering potential seems to be unlocked by complementary fluency in the two business languages German and English.
- Sprache
-
Englisch
- Erschienen in
-
Series: Kiel Working Paper ; No. 1880
- Klassifikation
-
Wirtschaft
Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
International Migration
Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General
- Thema
-
foreign language skills
migration
wage structure
human capital
occupational choice
- Ereignis
-
Geistige Schöpfung
- (wer)
-
Stöhr, Tobias
- Ereignis
-
Veröffentlichung
- (wer)
-
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
- (wo)
-
Kiel
- (wann)
-
2013
- Handle
- Letzte Aktualisierung
-
10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ
Datenpartner
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.
Objekttyp
- Arbeitspapier
Beteiligte
- Stöhr, Tobias
- Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
Entstanden
- 2013
Ähnliche Objekte (12)
The returns to occupational foreign language use : Evidence from Germany
Return migration and occupational choice
Occupational choice of return migrants
Return migration and occupational choice
Return migration and occupational choice
Returns to Local and Foreign Language Skills – Causal Evidence from Spain
Returns to Local and Foreign Language Skills – Causal Evidence from Spain
In search of processes of language use in foreign language didactics
First Language versus Foreign Language
Occupational choice of return migrants in Moldova
Occupational Choice of Return Migrants in Moldova
Foreign language correspondence
The returns to occupational foreign language use : Evidence from Germany
Return migration and occupational choice
Occupational choice of return migrants
Return migration and occupational choice
Return migration and occupational choice
Returns to Local and Foreign Language Skills – Causal Evidence from Spain
Returns to Local and Foreign Language Skills – Causal Evidence from Spain
In search of processes of language use in foreign language didactics
First Language versus Foreign Language
Occupational choice of return migrants in Moldova
Occupational Choice of Return Migrants in Moldova
Foreign language correspondence
The returns to occupational foreign language use : Evidence from Germany
Return migration and occupational choice
Occupational choice of return migrants
Return migration and occupational choice
Return migration and occupational choice
Returns to Local and Foreign Language Skills – Causal Evidence from Spain
Returns to Local and Foreign Language Skills – Causal Evidence from Spain
In search of processes of language use in foreign language didactics
First Language versus Foreign Language
Occupational choice of return migrants in Moldova
Occupational Choice of Return Migrants in Moldova