Language proficiency and immigrants’ economic integration

Abstract

Language proficiency is key to the economic integration of immigrants. Most research relies on self-assessed measures because objective test scores are not available in widely used data sets. However, while there is a great deal of overlap between these measures, self-assessments may contain measurement error and/or capture different skills than objective test scores. Current measures therefore do not capture the full spectrum of language-related human capital. Better tests are thus needed, and should be better integrated into immigrant selection criteria. Cons