This article discusses occupational bilingualism from the perspective of speakers of other languages who need to acquire English to be able to work. Most of the data are drawn from information on the language-use patterns of recent immigrants, a group that has been the focus of much policy research, though the situation of workers from indigenous language minority groups and those involved in the border economy are also mentioned. Data on immigrants' job experiences show that the relevance of English skills to employment varies by geographical location, occupational sector, gender, and ethnic background. Three case studies of occupational language use—in a restaurant, in small retail businesses, and in hospitals—illustrate the job-specific nature of second-language skills in these settings. Evidence indicates that bilingualism, defined as the addition of some level of English to previous native-language skills, plays an active role in the American economy.
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References
1.
1. Throughout the article, I use the term “American” to refer only to the United States of North America. This usage is strictly for economy, and no slight to other countries is intended. I am aware that, for Spanish speakers, “America” refers to all of North and South America and that North America includes Canada as well as the United States. The subject of occupational bilingualism in all countries of North and South America deserves extensive further study; for the sake of brevity, this article concentrates on the situation in the United States.
2.
2. Marcia Freedman, “Urban Labor Markets and Ethnicity: Segments and Shelters Reexamined,” in Urban Ethnicity in the United States, ed. L. Maldonado and J. Moore (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1985), pp. 145-147.
3.
As these sources show and as I will argue here, it is the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between, on the one hand, variation in immigrant control of both human capital factors—which include language—and economic resources and, on the other, the social and economic networks characteristic of the immigrants' new places of residence that accounts for some of the differential economic outcomes observed. With respect to the present discussion, this means that a worker's control of two languages, a human capital characteristic, will not have an invariant relationship to economic success but will come into play to the degree that such skills enhance employability in a specific geographical location or occupational sector. The diversity of background found in the foreign-born labor force and the variable match with local resources is a major theme of current research and policy interest; see Demetrious G. Papademetriouet al., The Effects of Immigration on the U.S. Economy and Labor Market, Immigration Policy and Research Report no. 1 (Washington, DC: Department of Labor, 1989).
4.
4. Papademetriouet al., Effects of Immigration, tab. 2.7, p. 41.
5.
5. Joshua A. Fishman, “Bilingualism and Separatism,”The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 487:170 (Sept. 1986).
6.
6. Ibid.
7.
7. Einar Haugen, Bilingualism in the Americans: A Bibliography and Research Guide (University, AL: American Dialect Society, 1956), p. 97.
8.
8. That data do not always substantiate such an interpretation is a separate matter.
9.
9. Kenneth L. Wilson and Alejandro Portes, “Immigrant Enclaves: An Analysis of the Labor Market Experiences of Cubans in Miami,”American Journal of Sociology, 18(2):295-319 (1980).
10.
10. The relationship of immigrant clustering to the learning and use of English in occupational and domestic spheres is a subject nearly untouched by historians and social scientists. Substantial work on immigrant clustering in the labor market has been done, however; see John Bodnar, The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985), esp. chaps. 2, 6.
11.
11. Saskia Sassen-Koob, “Immigrant and Minority Workers in the Organization of the Labor Process,”Journal of Ethnic Studies, 8(1):7 (Spring 1980).
12.
12. Thomas Muller, “Economic Effects of Immigration,” in Clamor at the Gates: The New American Immigration, ed. N. Glazer (San Francisco: ICS Press, 1985), p. 115.
13.
13. Morrison G. Wong, “Post-1965 Immigrants: Demographic and Socioeconomic Profile,” in Urban Ethnicity in the United States, ed. Maldonado and Moore, p. 68.
14.
14. For discussion of the current operation of the social networks underpinning Mexican immigration to the United States, see Douglas S. Massey, “The Social Organization of Mexican Migration to the United States,”The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 487:102-113 (Sept. 1986).
15.
For information on the contemporary picture, see Freedman, “Urban Labor Markets,” pp. 145-146.
16.
16. See accounts of Miguel Torres and Jaime Alvarez—both pseudonyms—in American Mosaic: The Immigrant Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It, ed. J. Morrison and C. F. Zabusky (New York: New American Library, 1980), pp. 349, 358.
17.
17. Freedman, “Urban Labor Markets,” p. 157.
18.
18. See discussion in Papademetriouet al., Effects of Immigration, esp. chaps. 1, 2, 6.
19.
19. Roger D. Waldinger, Through the Eye of the Needle: Immigrants and Enterprise in New York's Garment Trades (New York: New York University Press, 1986).
20.
20. The increasing internationalization of clothing manufacture has had a major impact on availability of apparel-related jobs in both major American apparel centers, New York and Los Angeles. For a description of changes in the production process in Los Angeles with special emphasis on the labor force effects, see John Laslett and Mary Tyler, The ILGWU in Los Angeles, 1907-1988 (Inglewood, CA: Ten Star Press, 1989).
21.
21. Waldinger, Through the Eye of the Needle, pp. 145-146.
22.
22. Ibid., pp. 144-45.
23.
23. Edna Bonacich, “A Theory of Middleman Minorities,”American Sociological Review, 38(5):583-594 (Oct. 1973).
24.
Ivan H. Light , “Immigrant Entrepreneurs in America: Koreans in Los Angeles,” in Clamor at the Gates, ed. Glazer, pp. 161-178.
25.
Kim , New Urban Immigrants.
26.
26. See the account of Jaime Alvarez in American Mosaic, ed. Morrison and Zabusky, pp. 357-358.
27.
27. Thomas R. Bailey, Immigrant and Native Workers: Contrasts and Competition (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1987), p. 82.
28.
idem , “The Ethnic Vice Industry, 1880-1944,”American Sociological Review, 42(3):464-479 (1977).
29.
idem , “The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-Born Men,”Journal of Political Economy, 86:897-921 (Oct. 1978).
30.
30. Chiswick, “Economic Progress of Immigrants,” p. 128.
31.
31. Ibid., pp. 134-35.
32.
32. Ibid., p. 157.
33.
33. George Borjas and Marta Tienda, eds., Hispanics in the U.S. Economy (Orlando, FL: Academic Press, 1985), p. 4.
34.
34. Ibid., pp. 3-12.
35.
35. Cordelia W. Reimers, “A Comparative Analysis of the Wages of Hispanics, Blacks, and Non-Hispanic Whites,” in Hispanics in the U.S. Economy, ed. Borjas and Tienda, pp. 74-75.
36.
36. Frank D. Bean, C. Gray Swicegood, and Allan G. King, “Role Incompatibility and the Relationship between Fertility and Labor Supply among Hispanic Women,” in Hispanics in the U.S. Economy, ed. Borjas and Tienda, pp. 235-236.
37.
37. Thomas R. Bailey, Immigrant and Native Workers: Contrast and Competition (Boulde, CO: Westview Press, 1987), p. 9.
38.
38. Darcy Jack, “Linguistic and Cultural Aspects of the Communication of Limited-English-Proficient Restaurant Workers” (Master's thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 1986).
39.
39. Henry C. O'Roark, “A Language Needs Assessment of Two Public-Contact Occupations” (Master's thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 1985).
40.
40. Ibid., pp. 43-44.
41.
41. Esther Sunde, “The Communication of Chinese Nurses in the American Hospital Setting” (Master's thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 1986).
42.
idem , “Minority Status and Schooling in Plural Societies,”Comparative Education Review, 27(2):168-190 (1983).
43.
43. Guadalupe Valdés, “Bilingualism in a Mexican Border City: A Research Agenda,” in Bilingualism and Language Contact: Spanish, English, and Native American Languages, ed. F. Barkin, E. A. Brandt, and J. Ornstein-Galicia (New York: Teachers College Press, 1982), p. 4.
44.
44. See Ellwyn R. Stoddard, Maquila: Assembly Plants in Northern Mexico (El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1987).
45.
45. Telephone conversation with E. R. Stoddard, 16 Feb. 1990.
46.
These economists note that it is difficult to calculate the “border wage differential” accurately because precise data are lacking on the relative cost of living in border areas versus other places; they conclude that much of the differential is a function of the “lower levels of education and experience and high proportions of Mexican Americans along the border.” Ibid., p. 314.
47.
Laslett and Tyler, ILGWU in Los Angeles, pp. 63-65, 95-103.
48.
48. Gail P. Kelly, “Coping with America: Refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in the 1970s and 1980s,”The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 487:138-149 (Sept. 1986).
49.
49. James W. Tollefson, Alien Winds: The Reeducation of America's Indochinese Refugees (New York: Praeger, 1989), pp. 106-126.
50.
50. See Russell N. Campbell and Kathryn J. Lindholm, “Conservation of Language Resources” (Educational Report no. 6, Center for Language Education and Research, University of California, Los Angeles, 1987).
