Written by two internationally renowned experts, this work explores the determinants of dominant language proficiency among immigrants and other linguistic minorities and the consequences of this proficiency for the labour market.

Introduction Part 1: The Determinants of Language Proficiency 1. A Model of Destination-language Acquisition: Application to Male Immigrants in Canada 2. Language Skill Definition: A Study of Legalized Aliens 3. Language Choice Among Immigrants in a Multi-lingual Destination 4. Language in the Immigrant Labor Market 5. Parents and Children Talk: English Language Proficiency within Immigrant Families Part 2: The Effects of Language Proficiency on Labor Market Outcomes 1. Immigrant Earnings: Language Skills, Linguistic Concentrations and the Business Cycle 2. Schooling, Literacy, Numeracy and Labor Market Success 3. Language Skills and Earnings Among Legalized Aliens 4. Language and Labor Supply: The Role of Gender Among Immigrants in Australia 5. Immigrant Adjustment in Israel: The Determinants of Literacy and Fluency in Hebrew and the Effects on Earnings Part 3: The Interaction of Language and Earnings among Immigrants 1. The Endogeneity between Language and Earnings: International Analyses 2. Speaking, Reading, and Earnings Among Low-skilled Immigrants 3. The Linguistic and Economic Adjustment of Soviet Jewish Immigrants in the United States, 1980-2000 Part 4: Language and Earnings among the Native Born 1. The Economic Cost to Native-born Americans of Limited English Language Proficiency, Report Prepared for the Center for Equal Opportunity, August 1998 2. Earnings in Canada: The Roles of Immigrant Generation, French Ethnicity, and Language 3. Indigenous Language Skills and the Labor Market in a Developing Economy: Bolivia Part 5: Language, Networks and Enclaves 1. Do Enclaves Matter in Immigrant Adjustment? 2. Ethnic Networks and Language Proficiency Among Immigrants Part 6: Linguistic Distance 1. The Effect of Linguistic Distance and Country of Origin on Immigrant Language Skills: Application to Israel 2. Linguistic Distance: A Quantitative Measure of the Distance between English and other Languages