Access to language training and refugees’ integration
Refugees who master the majority language with a degree of fluency that makes regular interactions with native speakers possible integrate better into the local community and the labor market. Access to language training for refugees early on after arrival is, therefore, a sensible public policy that likely pays for itself within a few years from the investment – especially if the language course is within geographical reach, explains CReAM fellow Mette Foged.
Many refugees arrive in their host countries with no prior knowledge of the majority language in the country. This is a barrier for social and economic integration. Many host countries therefore include language training in their integration programs.
Language opens door to the Local Community
The weather, the culture, the food, the language – it is a strange world that meets the newly arrived refugee in the host country. One of the unfamiliar elements can be of great importance to getting familiar with other elements of a society. Language is that key: Refugees who acquire sufficient language skills to interact with native speakers integrate better into the local community. Foged and van der Werf (2022) show that refugees who become more fluent in the Danish language are less likely to leave their assigned neighborhood and less likely to move to the main cities in Denmark with large preexisting immigrant populations.
Economic Integration
Refugees who have obtained better language skills are also more likely to upgrade their skills further (Foged and van der Werf, 2022, and Arendt et al., 2021). Research has also shown that language training increases refugees’ labor force participation (Lochmann et al., 2019) and over time leads to higher employment and earnings (Sarvimaki and Hämäläinen, 2016; Heller and Mumma, 2020; and Arendt et al., 2021).
In 1999, Denmark improved and expanded language training. The result was that refugees increased their earnings and employment permanently and the share of refugees working in a complex job increased (see Figure 2 and Arendt et al., 2021, for details). Hence, refugees with better language skills were able to exit cleaning (large non-complex occupation) and enter personal care (large complex occupation), which improves the quality of their employment, possibly through additional training and education.
Figure 1: Language Training and Employment in Complex Jobs
Notes: The graph shows the share employed in a complex job among refugees eligible for the longer and better funded language training introduced in Denmark in 1999, relative to those who were admitted before the threshold date determining eligibility. The expansion was introduced for everyone who were granted refugee status in Denmark after January 1, 1999. Occupations requiring some level of schooling and use of sophisticated skills either in the form of technical knowledge or literacy and good interpersonal communication skills (ISCO 1 to 5) are defined as complex.
A simple cost-benefit analysis in Arendt et al (2021) suggests that the Danish reform from 1999 expanding language training in Denmark generated up to 15 dollars in returns to the Danish economy (over 18 years) for every dollar invested.
Language Training Proximity is key to Language Skills
A refugee in Denmark travels on average 45 minutes by public transport to attend language training. The variation in the distance to language training is substantial and the refugees complete the program with varying degrees of fluency in Danish.
The figure below (from Foged and van der Werf, 2022) shows that refugees who live further from language training are significantly less fluent in the Danish language at the end of the three-year language training program. Hence, the accessibility of language training from where the refugee lives is important for a positive result of language training.
Notes: The graph shows language proficiency measured by the end of the three-year Integration Program as a function of distance to language and the density/share of refugees. Both variables are mean-standardized residuals.
To learn more, please read CReAM discussion papers by Mette Foged and coauthors on language training and refugees’ integration and on access to language training for refugees and development of host country human capital.
References
Arendt, Jacob, Iben Bolvig, Mette Foged, Linea Hasager and Giovanni Peri. 2021. “Language Training and Refugees’ Integration.” CReAM Discussion Paper No 04/21.
Foged, Mette and Cynthia van der Werf. 2022. “Access to Language Training, Host Country Human Capital and Local Integration of Refugees.” CReAM Discussion Paper No 10/22.
Heller, Blake and Kirsten Slungaard Mumma. 2020. “Immigrant Integration in the United States: The Role of Adult English Language Training.” Job Market Paper
Lochmann, Alexia, Hillel Rapoport, and Biagio Speciale. 2019. “The Effect of Language Training on Immigrants’ Economic Integration: Empirical Evidence from France.” European Economic Review 113:265–296
Sarvimaki, Matti and Kari Hämäläinen. 2016. “Integrating Immigrants: The Impact of Restructuring Active Labor Market Programs.” Journal of Labor Economics 34 (2):479–508.