Individual English Proficiency,Community Language Resources,and Immigrants’ Employment in Western New York: Evidence from the American Community Survey

Abstract

This study examines associations between the ability to speak English, community language resources, and employment among immigrants in Western New York, United States. Building on existing literature that demonstrates the importance of individual human capital (English proficiency), social networks, and ethnic community resources in immigrants’ labor market outcomes, we introduce the concept of community-level language resources as a facilitator of immigrants’ economic integration. Using data from the American Community Survey and a measure of community language resources (the percentage of bilinguals among people speaking the same language in a community), we find that greater community language resources are associated with a significant increase in the likelihood of being employed for immigrant men with limited English proficiency. Regression analyses also show that neither individual English proficiency nor community language resources are significantly associated with immigrant women's probability of being employed. This study calls for attention to community language resources and individual human capital when designing research on and developing policies for immigrant populations. Findings also show the need for a gender-aware approach to research and practice with immigrant communities.

Keywords

economic integration language proficiency community resources

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adelman

Robert M.

Cooke

Abigail

Kim

Wooksoo

Nam

Yunju

. 2021. “Another Voice: New refugee policy would bring benefits to Buffalo.” The Buffalo News, January 12, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/cico.12412 https://buffalonews.com/opinion/another-voice-new-refugee-policy-would-bring-benefits-to-buffalo/article_0f872256-54c8-11eb-ac20-27b89ddf2f34.html

Adelman

R. M.

Balta Ozgen

Rabii

. 2019. “Buffalo's West Side Story: Migration, Gentrification, and Neighborhood Change.” City & Community 18 (3): 770–91.

Adserà

Mariola

. 2016. “Language and Migration.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language, edited by Ginsburgh

Weber

, 342–72. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Allen

2009. “Benefit or Burden? Social Capital, Gender, and the Economic Adaptation of Refugees.” International Migration Review 43 (2): 332–65. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2009.00767

Beaman

L. A.

2012. “Social Networks and the Dynamics of Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from Refugees Resettled in the U.S.” Review of Economic Studies 79 (1): 128–61. https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdr017

Becker

G. S.

1964. Human Capital. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.

Bernstein

DuBois

. 2018. Bringing Evidence to the Refugee Integration Debate. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/97771/bringing_evidence_to_the_refugee_integration_debate_0.pdf

Budiman

Tamir

Mora

Noe-Bustamante

. 2020. Facts on U.S. Immigrants, 2018: Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2020/08/20/facts-on-u-s-immigrants/

Cavello

S. M.

2019. Rust Belt Renaissance? The Experience of Refugees from Burma in Buffalo, New York.” Department of Geography, State University of New York at Buffalo.

10.

Chin

. and Cortes

K. E.

. 2015. “The Refugee/Asylum Seeker.” In Handbook of the Economics of International Migration, Volume 1, edited by Chiswick

R. B.

Miller

P. W

, 585–658. Amsterdam: North-Holland.

11.

Chiswick

B. R.

Lee

Y. L.

Miller

P. W.

. 2006. “Immigrants’ Language Skills and Visa Category.” International Migration Review 40 (2): 419–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2006.00023

12.

Chiswick

B. R.

Miller

P. W.

. 1996. “Ethnic Networks and Language Proficiency among Immigrants.” Journal of Population Economics 9 (1): 19–35. https://www-jstor-org-443.web.bisu.edu.cn/stable/20007488

13.

Chiswick

B. R.

Miller

P. W.

. 2014. “International Migration and the Economics of Language.” In In Handbook of the Economics of International Migration, edited by Chiswick

R. B.

Miller

, 211–69. Elsevier Science & Technology.

14.

Congressional Budget Office. 2004. A Description of the Immigrant Population. Washington, D.C.: The Congress of the United States.

15.

Connor

2010. “Explaining the Refugee Gap: Economic Outcomes Of Refugees Versus Other Immigrants.” Journal of Refugee Studies 23 (3): 377–97. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feq025

16.

Dustmann

Fabbri

. 2003. “Language Proficiency and Labour Market Performance of Immigrants in the UK.” The Economic Journal 113 (489): 695–717. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0297.t01-1-00151

17.

Garcia

1992. Counting the Uncountable, Immigrant and Migrant, Documented and Undocumented Farm Workers in California: Results from an Alternative Enumeration in a Mexican and Mexican American Farm Worker Community in California and Ethnographic Evaluation of the Behavioral Causes of Undercount. Ethnographic Evaluation of the 1990 Decennial Census Report #12. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of the Census.

18.

Gowayed

2019. “Diverging by Gender: Syrian Refugees’ Divisions of Labor and Formation of Human Capital in the United States.” Gender & Society 33 (2): 251–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243218819753

19.

Guerrero

Rothstein

M. G.

. 2012. “Antecedents of Underemployment: Job Search of Skilled Immigrants in Canada.” Applied Psychology 61 (2): 323–46. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2011.00470

20.

Hagan

J. M.

1998. “Social Networks, Gender, and Immigrant Incorporation: Resources and Constraints.” American Sociological Review 63 (1): 55–67.

21.

Hao

Kawano

. 2001. “Immigrants’ Welfare Use and Opportunity for Contact with Co-Ethnics.” Demography 38 (3): 375–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2009.00783

22.

Isphording

I. E.

2015. “Language and Labor Market Success.” In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, edited by Wright

J. D.

, 260–5. London, UK: Elsevier.

23.

Kaneshiro

2013. “Missing Minorities? The Phases of IRCA Legislation and Relative Net Undercounts of the 1990 vis-à-vis 2000 Decennial Census for Foreign-Born Cohorts.” Demography 50 (5): 1897–919. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-013-0212-6

24.

Kim

. 2020. Resettlement Trends for Refugees in Erie County (2003–2019). Buffalo, NY: Immigrant and Refugee Research Institute, The State University of New York at Buffalo School of Social Work.

25.

Kissam

2017. “Differential Undercount of Mexican Immigrant Families in the US Census.” Statistical Journal of the IAOS 33 (3): 797–816. https://doi.org/10.3233/sji-170388

26.

Miyar-Busto

Díaz

Fco. J. M.

Gutiérrez

Rodolfo

. 2020. “Immigrants’ Educational Credentials Leading to Employment Outcomes: The Role Played by Language Skills.” Revista Internacional De Organizaciones 23: 167–91. https://doi.org/10.17345/rio23.167-191

27.

Mouw

Chavez

. 2012. “Occupational Linguistic Niches and the Wage Growth of Latino Immigrants.” Social Forces 91 (2): 423–52.

28.

Nam

Yunju

Richards-Desai

Sarah

Holler

Michelle

. 2019. “Immigrants’ Economic Integration in Western New York: Evidence from the American Community Survey.” Report to New York State Office of New Americans. Buffalo, NY: University at Buffalo.

29.

Nawyn

S. J.

Gjokaj

Agbenyiga

D. L.

Grace

. 2012. “Linguistic Isolation, Social Capital, and Immigrant Belonging.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 41 (3): 255–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241611433623

30.

Office of the New York State Comptroller. 2016. A Portrait of Immigrants in New York. Albany, NY: Office of the New York State Comptroller.

31.

Partnership for the Public Good. 2018. Immigrants, Refugees, and Languages Spoken in Buffalo. Buffalo, NY: Partnership for the Public Good.

32.

Passel

J. S.

Clark

R. L.

. 1998. Immigrants in New York: Their Legal Status, Income, and Taxes. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute.

33.

Pfeffer

M. J.

Parra

P. A.

. 2009. “Strong Ties, Weak Ties, and Human Capital: Latino Immigrant Employment Outside the Enclave.” Rural Sociology 74 (2): 241–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1549-0831.2009.tb00391

34.

Portes

1998. “Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology 24: 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.24.1.1

35.

Potocky-Tripodi

2004. “The Role of Social Capital in Immigrant and Refugee Economic Adaptation.” Journal of Social Service Research 31 (1): 59–91. https://doi.org/10.1300/J079v31n01_04

36.

Schlee

2015. “Language and Ethnicity.” In International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, edited by Wright

J. D.

, 251–5. London, UK: Elsevier.

37.

Silles

M. A.

2018. “The Effects of Language Skills on the Economic Assimilation of Female Immigrants in the United States.” Manchester School 86 (6): 789–815. https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12231

38.

Tegegne

M. A.

2015. “Immigrants’ Social Capital and Labor Market Performance: The Effect of Social Ties on Earnings and Occupational Prestige.” Social Science Quarterly 96 (5): 1396–410. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12212

39.

U.S. Census Bureau. 2016. Fact Sheet: Differences Between the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS ASEC). Suitland, MD: U.S. Census Bureau. Last modified May 16, 2016. Accessed January 10, 2021, https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty/guidance/data-sources/acs-vs-cps.html

40.

U.S. Census Bureau. 2020. Understanding and Using the American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample Files: What Data Users Need to Know. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

41.

U.S. Census Bureau. 2022. Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs). United States Census Bureau. Last revised August 22, 2022. Accessed October 10, 2022. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/geo-areas/pumas.html

42.

U.S. Department of Commerce. 2012. The American Community Survey . https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about/forms-and-instructions.2012.html#list-tab-9466845

43.

Waldinger

1994. “The Making of an Immigrant Niche.” The International Migration Review 28 (1): 3–30. https://doi.org/10.2307/2547023

44.

Western New York Regional Economic Development Council. 2011. A Strategy for Prosperity in Western New York. Buffalo, NY: Western New York Regional Economic Development Council.

45.

Zong

Batalova

. 2015. The Limited English Proficient Population in the United States in 2013. Washington, D.C.: Migration Policy Institute.