RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Employers’ Language Proficiency Requirements and Hiring of Immigrants
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 1223-13300R3
DO 10.3368/jhr.1223-13300R3
A1 Carlsson, Magnus
A1 Eriksson, Stefan
A1 Rooth, Dan-Olof
YR 2026
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2026/01/07/jhr.1223-13300R3.abstract
AB Labor markets in advanced economies have undergone substantial change due to globalization, technological improvements, and organizational changes, making language proficiency increasingly important even in less skilled jobs. Has this development led employers to shy away from hiring immigrants with limited host-country language skills? We shed light on this question by conducting a large-scale field experiment, where we introduce common second-language features in immigrants’ resumes. We also conduct employer surveys to interpret our experimental results. Our main finding is that language proficiency has a strong positive effect on being invited to a job interview, even in typical immigrant entry jobs.