Proficiency In Immigration

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already had permanent residency status. Despite the fact that Hunt argued differential performance might be due to level of education and field of study, there may be factors in this equation that go beyond immigrants’ industry. While none of these studies explored the relationship between visa type and occupation directly, it was clear that their findings implied the disadvantages in which college-educated immigrants who held various visa types found themselves, at least with regard to economic returns.
English Proficiency
Among the factors that shaped immigrants’ experience in the U.S. labor market, proficiency in English language was one of the most critical. In an exploration of immigrants’ pathways to owning a business Raijman
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Census and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Bratsberg and Ragan Jr (2002) studied male immigrants and the impact of host country schooling on their earnings. Among their findings was one that specifically addressed English proficiency. They learned that immigrants with higher returns where those who furthered their education in the U.S. However, when exploring findings in more detail, they determined that immigrants who did not attend school in the country experienced higher returns only if they acquired English proficiency while in the U.S. or if they came from countries where English was the official language. As interesting as it sounds, in the study, countries where English was an official language were also countries that were more developed. This characteristic inherently attached a higher value tag to education immigrants earned in these …show more content…
Their study consisted of an exploration of minority group immigrant status and underemployment in the U.S. The study captured the experiences of immigrants as part of the U.S. Census Public Microdata Sample (PUMS). Their findings, in addition to identifying several kinds of underemployment such as job mismatch, part-time employment, and working poverty, shed light on higher levels of underemployment for Asian females. Their justification for this phenomenon led them to believe that the cultural and community influences played a critical role in Asian females’ lower workforce involvement. They determined that Asian women were more likely to be shy, less aggressive, and inclined to stay home, which translated into detachment from the labor