The impact of Spanish language proficiency on the labor market outcomes of immigrants in Spain

Abstract

This article uses micro-data from the Spanish National Immigrant Survey (Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes-ENI in Spanish) carried out in 2007 among immigrants in Spain. In recent years, Spain has received unprecedented immigration flows. The economic assimilation of immigrants is crucial for keeping a cohesive and stable society, especially under the particular circumstances of Spain. As a consequence, immigrants need to invest in human capital since it plays a crucial role in determining their economic status. Educational attainment and destination language ability are two essential components of human capital of migrants. As a result, the immigrants’ labor market participation and their earnings are closely mediated by their host language proficiency and level of schooling. We carry out an analysis of the impact of Spanish language ability on the likelihood of full-time employment and earnings among immigrants in Spain. The results indicate that educational attainment and belonging to a higher Spanish speaking proficiency category both lead to an increase in the probability of holding a full-time job. In contrast, there is no significant impact of schooling and host language ability on earnings.