Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Susumu Imai
Author-X-Name-First: Susumu
Author-X-Name-Last: Imai
Author-Email: Susumu.Imai@uts.edu.au
Author-Workplace-Name: UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Author-Name: Derek Stacey
Author-X-Name-First: Derek
Author-X-Name-Last: Stacey
Author-Email: dstacey@economics.ryerson.ca
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Author-Name: Casey Warman
Author-X-Name-First: Casey
Author-X-Name-Last: Warman
Author-Email: warmanc@dal.ca
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
Title: From Engineer to Taxi Driver? Language Proficiency and the Occupational Skills of Immigrants
Abstract: We examine the ability of immigrants to transfer the occupational human capital they acquired prior to immigration. We first augment a model of occupational choice to study the implications of language proficiency on the cross-border transferability of occupational human capital. We then explore the empirical predictions using information about the skill requirements from the O*NET and a unique dataset that includes both the last source country occupation and the first four years of occupations in Canada. We supplement the analysis using Census estimates for the same cohort with source country occupational skill requirements predicted using detailed human capital related information such as field of study. We find that male immigrants to Canada were employed in source country occupations that typically require high levels of cognitive skills, but rely less intently on manual skills. Following immigration, they find initial employment in occupations that require the opposite. Consistent with the hypothesized asymmetric role of language in the transferability of previously acquired cognitive and manual skills, these discrepancies are larger among immigrants with limited language fluency.
Classification-JEL: J24; J31; J61; J62; J71; J80
Keywords: Occupational Mobility; Language Proficiency; Skills; Human Capital; Immigration; Field of Study
Length: 65 pages
Creation-Date: 2014-02
Revision-Date: 2018-08
Number: 040
File-URL: http://economics.ryerson.ca/workingpapers/wp040.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:rye:wpaper:wp040