The Impact of Host Language Proficiency on Migrants’ Employment Outcomes

This paper estimates the economic gains from proficiency in the host country’s language on migrants’ employment outcomes by exploiting the exogenous placement of refugees to Swiss cantons and a sharp language border dividing German- and French-speaking regions. Using administrative data on African refugees who applied for Swiss asylum between 2008 and 2017, I compare French-speaking refugees assigned to the French-speaking region to French-speaking refugees assigned to the German-speaking region and adjust for common regional differences with outcomes from English-speaking African refugees. The results suggest that language proficiency more than doubles the employment level in the first five years after arrival. (JEL J15, J24, J31, J82, R23)