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Speak better, do better? Education and health of migrants in the UK

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  • Aoki, Yu
  • Santiago, Lualhati

Abstract

Does proficiency in host-country language affect immigrant social outcomes? This paper aims to address this question by estimating the causal effects of English language skills on education, health and fertility outcomes of immigrants in England and Wales. We construct an instrument for language skills using age at arrival in the United Kingdom, exploiting the phenomenon that young children learn languages more easily than older children. Using a unique individual-level dataset that links the 2011 Census data to life event records, we find that better English language skills significantly improve educational attainment and adult health, and affect fertility behaviour, but do not affect child health. Supplementary analysis suggests that a higher educational attainment as a result of better English language skills is a possibly important channel though which English proficiency affects immigrant health.

Suggested Citation

  • Aoki, Yu & Santiago, Lualhati, 2018. "Speak better, do better? Education and health of migrants in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:52:y:2018:i:c:p:1-17
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2018.03.003
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    Cited by:

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    2. Daniel Auer & Johannes S. Kunz, 2021. "Communication Barriers and Infant Health: Intergenerational Effects of Randomly Allocating Refugees Across Language Regions," SoDa Laboratories Working Paper Series 2021-07, Monash University, SoDa Laboratories.
    3. Yu Aoki & Lualhati Santiago, 2024. "Where to live? English proficiency and residential location of UK migrants," French Stata Users' Group Meetings 2024 27, Stata Users Group.
    4. Nicole Black & Johannes S. Kunz, 2019. "The Intergenerational Effects of Language Proficiency on Child Health Outcomes," Monash Economics Working Papers 05-19, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    5. Davillas, Apostolos & de Oliveira, Victor Hugo & Jones, Andrew M., 2023. "Is inconsistent reporting of self-assessed health persistent and systematic? Evidence from the UKHLS," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    6. Nicole Black & Johannes S. Kunz, 2024. "The Intergenerational Effects of Language Proficiency on Child Health Outcomes: Evidence from Survey- and Census-matched Health Care Records," Papers 2024-11, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
    7. Aoki, Yu & Santiago, Lualhati, 2024. "Where to live? English proficiency and residential location of UK migrants," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 73-93.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration; Language skills; Education; Health; Fertility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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