Language fluency and immigrant employment prospects: evidence from Britain's ethnic minorities

Using data from the Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities, the determ inants of location-specific language capital and its impact upon the employ ment prospects of male and female ethnic minority immigrants in Britain are investigated. It is found that lack of English language fluency reduces av erage predicted employment probabilities by 20-25 percentage points. Increa sing the provision of English language training directly or indirectly, by requiring immigrants to obtain UK qualifications, would go a long way to el iminating the 10% employment gap between Britain's white and ethnic minorit y communities.