Language Proficiency, Immigration and Labour Market in Spain

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of the Spanish proficiency of immigrants on their labour market success in Spain. Using data from the 2007 National Immigrant Survey of Spain, we analyse the effect of language proficiency on several labour market outcomes: employment, contract duration, hours of work, occupational category, self-employment. Applying Instru-mental Variables (IV), the results suggest that Spanish proficiency increases the probability of being employed by 16.5pp. This impact is even more relevant for low-educated individu-als reaching 31.7pp. Overall, immigrants experienced an improvement in their labour market performance in terms of employment and number of hours. We also found that Spanish profi-ciency reduces the probability of being self-employed.