Language skills and unemployment: post-Soviet bilingualism in Latvia

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationship between the unemployment of working-age men with their skills in the local languages, Russian and Latvian, and in English, the most spoken foreign language in Latvia. To determine who benefits and from which language skills in the labour market, the analysis uses data from the Eurostat Adult Education Survey (AES 2016) and the Baltic Institute of Social Sciences Language Survey (BISS 2008). The results show an inverse link between language skills and unemployment for Latvians and Russian speakers, but more so for the latter. English skills benefit the older Latvian workers without a tertiary degree, while for Russians the benefits are greater and more general. Latvian skills benefit the younger tertiary-educated Russian speakers. For Latvians, the link between Russian-language skills and unemployment remains inconclusive. The analysis considers the bilingual context and the measurement bias of self-reported language skills.