Termin:
23.05.2006
16:00
Computer Usage, Destination Language Proficiency and the
Earnings of Immigrants and Natives
Barry R. Chiswick, University of Illinois at Chicago
Using data from the 2001 Census of Population and Housing in Australia, this paper uses the concept of a computer as a public good within the household to model the demand for computers. Empirically, it investigates the determinants, and consequences for earnings, of computer use by both the native born and the foreign born. Focussing on the foreign born, the multivariate analyses show that recent arrivals are more likely to use computers than the Australian born. As the level of computer use in Australia is much higher than in most of the countries that Australia’s immigrants come from, this evidence suggests a high degree of favourable selection in migration. Study of the links between earnings, computer use and other human capital skills shows that educational attainment and destination language skills are complements to computer use. The use of a computer is shown to be a way the foreign born can increase the international transferability of their pre-immigration skills, a finding that has implications for immigrant assimilation policies.
Professor Barry R. Chiswick is head of the Department of Economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Director of the UIC Center for Economics Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In his current research he focuses on the analysis of the skill acquisition, labor market adjustment and economic impact of immigrants; the determinants of immigration and immigration policy; the identification, human capital and labor market behavior of racial, religious, and ethnic groups.
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Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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