The Characteristics of Bilingual and Monolingual U.S. Workers.

Abstract

English remains the preeminent language of the American workplace, but high rates of immigration and the grip of globalization create cause and incentive for a shift to the prevalence of other language abilities. Demographic trends alone dictate that the non English language abilities of the U.S. labor force will likely expand over the new century. Immigrants, primarily from non-English speaking countries, account for at least one third of net population growth, as well as a growing second generation of their descendants (NRC, 1997). Globalization generates a demand for trade in non English languages and supports transnational ties that reinforce second language retention. Since the 1970s these forces should have led to a language shift. Yet surprisingly little is known about the distribution of language abilities among the members of the U.S. labor force. To date almost all research on English and labor force outcomes has relied on limited questions in the decennial U.S. Census. It assesses as English monolingual and perfectly fluent all persons who speak English at home leaving only those who speak another language at home to self assess their ability in English. It does not ask respondents to assess their ability to speak a second language other than English. In short, the Census based research cannot tell us which workers are truly monolingual in English and whether or not they speak English very well, much less can the

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