English Language Proficiency and Occupational Choice: Evidence from Childhood Immigrants into the United States

Abstract

I examine the effect of English language profi ciency on the occupational choices of childhood immigrants into the United States. Following Bleakley and Chin (2004; 2010), I use an instrumental variables approach that exploits young children's superior language acquisition abilities to estimate the causal effect of English language skills on immigrants' choice of occupation. I find that immigrants with higher proficiency are more likely to work in jobs that require a sophisticated use of the English language, such as sales and administrative occupations. By contrast, immigrants with a weaker grasp of English are more likely to end up in occupations that do not rely on language skills, e.g. food preparation, farming, or production. I show that this effect is not driven primarily by the education channel, but is rather mostly the result of individuals' choice of the most suitable job within their educational category.