English Proficiency and Labour Supply of Immigrants in Australia

This paper explores the impact of English proficiency on the labour supply of recent immigrants in Australia. While previous research finds that English proficiency is crucial for participation and employment of immigrants, almost no research, and none in Australia, has been done with respect to hours worked by immigrants. The number of hours worked by immigrants is a strong indicator of economic wellbeing. This study uses the second cohort of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia data to estimate a Chamberlain style Tobit random effects estimator. The results suggest a positive relationship between English proficiency and hours worked by immigrants.Labour Supply, English Proficiency, Australian Immigration, Australian Immigrants