We gathered data on recent Soviet immigrants to Israel that include retrospective questions on earnings and language ability on entry into their current job.
Language acquisition interacts positively with occupational level.
Immigrant software workers and technicians have a return to tenure about three percentage points higher than that of natives. In contrast, construction workers and gas station attendants have no convergence of wages to those of natives and language acquisition has no discernible effect on their wages. This finding may invite a reinterpretation of other studies on the returns to language acquisition for low wage immigrants. Lang acknowledges the support of NSF grant SBR-9515052. We benefitted from the comments of Dan Ackerberg and participants in seminars at the Institute for Race and Social Division and a labor lunch at Boston University.