This paper asks to what extent host language proficiency can insure immigrants against the risk of ending up in mismatched jobs. Using the 2003-2016 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA), the paper discriminates between three forms of mismatch, overqualification, underqualification and overskilling. Host language proficiency is instrumented using Bleakley and Chin (Rev Econ Stat 86:481–496, 2004) strategy, which exploits the fact that younger children learn languages more easily than older ones. To differentiate between local average treatment effects (LATE) and average treatment effects (ATE), the paper considers two alternative models, 2SLS instrumental variables and biprobit. We find that treatment effects are heterogeneous. English language proficiency among immigrants in Australia reduces the probability of ending up in overqualified jobs, by between 17.2 (LATE) and 36.7 (ATE) percentage points. The ATE of overskilling is also significant and about -8.9 percentage points. In contrast, language skills tend to raise the probability of being underqualified at the job, by approximately 8.6 percentage points according to the ATE. Local effects of overskilling and underqualification fail to be statistically significant, suggesting that host language proficiency may be innocuous for some workers. Overall, the results indicate that host language proficiency is a country-specific, valuable form of human capital.

本文询问母语熟练程度在多大程度上可以确保移民免受最终从事不匹配工作的风险。使用澳大利亚家庭、收入和劳动力动态 (HILDA) 的 2003-2016 年波浪，该论文区分了三种形式的不匹配、资格过高、资格不足和技能过高。使用 Bleakley 和 Chin (Rev Econ Stat 86:481–496, 2004) 策略检测宿主语言的熟练程度，该策略利用了年幼儿童比年长儿童更容易学习语言的事实。为了区分局部平均治疗效果 (LATE) 和平均治疗效果 (ATE)，本文考虑了两种替代模型，2SLS 工具变量和双概率。我们发现治疗效果是异质的。澳大利亚移民的英语熟练程度将最终从事高素质工作的可能性降低了 17.2 (LATE) 至 36.7 (ATE) 个百分点。技能过度的 ATE 也很显着，约为 -8.9 个百分点。相比之下，根据 ATE，语言技能往往会增加工作不合格的可能性，大约增加 8.6 个百分点。技能过度和资格不足的局部影响在统计上不显着，这表明母语熟练程度对某些工人可能无害。总体而言，结果表明，母语熟练程度是一种特定于国家的、有价值的人力资本形式。相比之下，根据 ATE，语言技能往往会增加工作不合格的可能性，大约增加 8.6 个百分点。技能过度和资格不足的局部影响在统计上不显着，这表明母语熟练程度对某些工人可能无害。总体而言，结果表明，母语熟练程度是一种特定于国家的、有价值的人力资本形式。相比之下，根据 ATE，语言技能往往会增加工作不合格的可能性，大约增加 8.6 个百分点。技能过度和资格不足的局部影响在统计上不显着，这表明母语熟练程度对某些工人可能无害。总体而言，结果表明，母语熟练程度是一种特定于国家的、有价值的人力资本形式。