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Abstract

Chinese

Asians who are not attracted by western culture may pursue their dreams in an Asian global city. While most people in Asia do not use English to communicate in their daily life, past literature on international migration focuses on English-speaking countries. This study uses Hong Kong (branded an Asian global city) as a case study to examine whether mastery of a native language (Cantonese) and/or English, a dominant non-native language in the commercial sector, determines the economic success of Asian migrants. Contrary to the general expectation of the importance of the native language, this study finds that a mastery of English and the official language of China (Putonghua) instead of Cantonese generates higher earnings for Asian minorities. The language advantages for earnings are mediated by the attainment of high-paid occupations. This study suggests that immigrants’ assimilation in a host society is not just a local problem but relates to the global and regional contextual factors of the city.

Keywords

colonial history demographics employment/labour global power structure globalisation migration race/ethnicity

Introduction

Although there is no universally accepted definition of world/global cities, it is a common understanding that these cities are the product of economic and cultural globalisation. They are urban centres that typically serve as hubs within a globalised economic system (Charnock, 2013). According to the 2020 Global Cities Index, the top three cities are long-established western cities: New York, London and Paris. The top 10 global cities include four Asian cities, namely, Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore (Nasr et al., 2020). These cities are commonly regarded as the preferred destinations of international migrants. Potential migrants will consider cultural barriers, language barriers, job prospects and investment opportunities, among many other factors.

Not all people who are inspired by the ‘American Dream’ ethos prefer the western culture. These people may consider pursuing their dreams in Asia or elsewhere. For example, Asians may find it easier to adapt and to start a new chapter in a world city within Asia. Among the top four Asian global cities, speaking the native languages of Japan and China is a challenge for international migrants. Foreigners need to make a great deal of effort to learn Japanese to secure a regular job in the labour market of Japan (Liu-Farrer, 2020), and the ability to understand Chinese and speak Putonghua¹ is essential to integrate into Chinese culture. On the contrary, the other two top-ranked global cities in Asia welcome immigrants with open arms and English is an official language in both cities. Almost all Singaporeans speak English in their daily life, and a significant proportion of Hong Kong residents can communicate in basic English.

Although both Singapore and Hong Kong should be equally attractive to English-speaking potential migrants, Hong Kong has a unique advantage in its link with Mainland China. With COVID-19 swamping the world, China is the only big nation that fully recovered with positive economic growth in 2020 (Xie et al., 2021). The latest report published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (2021) in December 2021 suggests that China will become the world’s biggest economy in 2030. The potential shifting of economic power from the West to the East makes Hong Kong one of the preferred cities in which to pursue one’s dreams.

Moreover, while it is hard to obtain permanent resident status in Japan (June Advisors Group, n.d.; Pollmann, 2020) or China (Wong and Fu, 2020), Hong Kong does not require a foreign national to demonstrate their language ability. Individuals are eligible for permanent Hong Kong residence if they have entered the city with a valid travel document, have resided in Hong Kong for a continuous seven years and have taken the city as their place of permanent residence (Immigration Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region [HKSAR], 2018). In short, Hong Kong, positioned as an Asian global city, is an attractive global city for potential migrants to pursue Asian dreams.

Immigrants’ assimilation and securing a position in the labour market is important for them to live in the city (Dustmann and Fabbri, 2003). Their assimilation in the host society has long been theorised as a multidimensional process (Schachter, 2016), and language assimilation is regarded as one of the benchmarks of assimilation (Waters and Jiménez, 2005). Earlier literature on international migration focuses on English-speaking countries (e.g. Akresh et al., 2014; Shields and Price, 2002), where the dominant language at work and in social life is the mother tongue of the natives (Budría et al., 2019; Hayfron, 2001).

However, less is known about whether and how the languages of the host society serve as an obstacle to immigrants’ assimilation, specifically whether and how their proficiency in the native language and dominant non-native language in the business sector determines their economic success. This research question does not draw much attention because linguistic heterogeneity usually exists in developing countries, which are not popular destinations for migrants.

Asian minority migrants in Hong Kong provide an illuminating case for us to examine this important research question. In Hong Kong – an Asian global city with linguistic heterogeneity – English is widely used in business communication, whereas Cantonese is used in daily life (Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2020). Additionally, most people in Asia do not speak English in their daily life. It is highly likely that the native languages of potential migrants, especially Asian minorities, are different from the language of the host society. In Hong Kong, English and Cantonese are not the native languages of the Asian minority immigrants from less-developed or developing non-English-speaking Asian countries, such as India, Pakistan and Nepal. Hence, this study adopts Hong Kong as a case to study whether and how mastery of the native language (Cantonese) and/or English, a dominant non-native language in the commercial sector, determines the economic success of Asian minority migrants.

Ethnicity, migration and assimilation: The role of language proficiency

Why does language proficiency matter?

Language adaptation of immigrants in the host society is seen as a crucial dimension of assimilation (Akresh et al., 2014). Language use and proficiency are widely adopted as one of the standard measures of assimilation (Waters and Jiménez, 2005) and extrinsic acculturation (adoption of observable traits) (Chen and Liu, 2018).

While much of the literature has focused on the language adaptation of immigrants (e.g. Bleakley and Chin, 2010; Espenshade and Fu, 1997), some studies have shown that the language proficiency of immigrants is significantly linked to their success in assimilating into the host society (see Waters and Jiménez (2005) for a review). A good mastery of the host language positively affects immigrants’ identification with the host country (Hochman and Davidov, 2014) and their life satisfaction (Amit and Bar-Lev, 2015). Language and communication barriers hinder the ethnic minority group from making good use of government services and programmes in the host society (Nguyen et al., 2017). Apart from the positive impacts on themselves, immigrants’ English proficiency also affects Americans’ perception of and openness to legal immigrants in the USA (Schachter, 2016).

More importantly, immigrants’ command of the host language is found to be important to their economic assimilation. Immigrants who are fluent in the dominant language are more likely to be employed (Dustmann and Fabbri, 2003; Hayfron, 2001) and have higher earnings (Budría et al., 2019). Immigrants’ fluency in the dominant language is seen as a form of post-migration human capital, which generates good economic returns (e.g. Ramachandran, 2017). As there is usually a predominant language used in business and social communications in the host society, language proficiency facilitates immigrants’ obtaining job information and communicating and negotiating with potential employers (Hayfron, 2001; Shields and Price, 2002), thus leading to better-paid jobs (Isphording, 2015). Language skills are found to be a signal to employers about the quality of their employees’ university education (Casale and Posel, 2011).

Chiswick and Miller (2002) argue that language fluency increases the ‘international transferability’ of immigrants’ education. Drawing on US population census data, they find that economic returns on education are higher for those who are fluent in English than for those who are not. The results are consistent with research on the complementarity between the skills represented by education and language fluency (e.g. Casale and Posel, 2011; Chiswick and Miller, 1995).

Which language matters?

Existing literature focuses on the economic returns of dominant language fluency for immigrants in developed English-speaking countries, particularly the USA (e.g. Akresh et al., 2014) and UK (e.g. Dustmann and Fabbri, 2003). Although there are some studies of non-English-speaking societies, such as Spain (Budría et al., 2019) and Norway (Hayfron, 2001), where the dominant language in business and social life of such societies is the same language spoken by the native population.

Less is known about the economic returns on different language skills in a society where the predominant language in the commercial sector is different from the usual language spoken by the local population. It should be noted that the discussion on migration and the economic returns from immigrants’ language skills can be situated in the context of the global power structure. Migrants typically move from economic periphery countries to core countries which are in advantaged positions in terms of economic power, linguistic dominance and cultural hegemony (Hooghe et al., 2008; Massey et al., 1998). Core countries, such as the USA, UK and other developed European countries, enjoy power in the global economic system and their language and culture exert a strong influence. Ives (2010) argues that the number of English speakers quadrupled in the last half-century and the changes associated with ‘global English’ have substantial political implications.

Linguistic heterogeneity is more prevalent in developing countries, but these countries are not popular destinations for international migrants. The lack of relevant research is mainly because of the scarcity of data on language use (Casale and Posel, 2011; Chiswick et al., 2000). Among the few exceptions, Chiswick et al. (2000) examine the effect of using Spanish and the indigenous language on labour force participation and earnings in Bolivia. The results show that Spanish speakers earn substantially more than bilingual speakers, and they suggest that bilingual speakers are penalised in earnings due to their poorer proficiency in Spanish. Casale and Posel (2011) analyse the economic returns from English proficiency for Africans in South Africa, where most of the population speak an indigenous African language. They find significantly higher returns for English proficiency, which is associated with higher productivity and a more efficient search for jobs.

Although Asia has experienced growing economic weight, which enhances its role in shaping global economic governance, the adoption of a global lingua franca – English – is one of five key challenges it has to address (Madhur, 2012). ‘White privilege’ associated with the linguistic capital of English in the labour market is observed in some societies. Drawing on analysis of Taiwanese society, Lan (2011) suggests that English is a form of global linguistic capital in the labour market and English-speaking highly skilled westerners convert their native-language ability into economic, social and symbolic capital. Also, white immigrants are found to be privileged in Hong Kong (Leonard, 2010; Tong et al., 2018). The ‘white privilege’ in Hong Kong relates to its British colonial history and English proficiency as valuable cultural capital (Leonard, 2010; Li, 2021).

To examine the economic returns from native language and dominant non-native language in the business sector, researchers need to find an appropriate society as an illuminating case that fulfils two main requirements. First, it must be a preferred destination for international migrants. Second, the dominant language in the business sector must be different from the usual language used by the native population in their daily life. This study suggests that Hong Kong as an Asian global city is such an appropriate case.

Hong Kong as a global city

Hong Kong is widely regarded as a global city (Chiu and Lui, 2004, 2009) with high language heterogeneity. The government implements biliterate (written English and Chinese) and trilingual (spoken English, Cantonese and Putonghua) language education (Education Bureau, 2014) and adopts both English and Chinese as the official languages.

While English, as a language widely used in international communication, is commonly used in government and in the legal, professional and business sectors, close to 90% of the local population usually speak Cantonese, and less than 5% of the usual spoken language is English (HKSAR Government, 2021a). Additionally, Putonghua, as the official language of the People’s Republic of China, has been gaining more importance. Given Hong Kong’s unique linkage with Mainland China, proficiency in Putonghua can facilitate people’s fostering exchange and developing stronger ties with Mainlanders in business and other aspects.

Like other global cities such as London, New York and Singapore, Hong Kong attracts numerous highly skilled people as it is the home of a large number of regional headquarters of finance and of specialised services (Findlay et al., 1996). Moreover, there is a high demand for elementary jobs such as service and sales personnel to provide support services to the elite population. Hong Kong has been attracting a large pool of immigrant workers of various skill levels (Lai and Li, 2019). In 2016, 39.4% of the total population were immigrants, of which 78.8% came from Mainland China (Fong and Guo, 2018).

Hong Kong is also seen as a dream city for Asian minorities. According to the latest official statistics from the 2016 Population By-census (Census and Statistics Department, 2017a), there were 584,383 ethnic minority people² in Hong Kong, accounting for 8% of the population. The majority of these were Filipinos and Indonesians, most of whom were foreign domestic helpers. Excluding foreign domestic helpers, ethnic minority people constituted 3.6% of the Hong Kong population and 53.4% of them were Asians (other than Chinese). The majority of these Asian ethnic minority people were South Asian, including from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. These Asian minorities came from less-developed and developing countries whose native language was not English, Cantonese or Putonghua.

Therefore, the Asian minorities in Hong Kong provide an excellent opportunity for us to examine the economic returns from immigrants’ proficiency in an international language widely used in the business sector (i.e. English), a native language (i.e. Cantonese) and the official language in Mainland China (i.e. Putonghua). Specifically, whether and how such language skills generate different earnings premiums for the natives and the immigrants, particularly for Asian minorities.

Data and methods

Data

The dataset used in this study is the Hong Kong 5% random sample of the 2016 Population By-census (the latest available data). The dataset covers a broad range of socio-economic characteristics of diversified Hong Kong residents, thus providing a good opportunity to compare the earnings returns on different language skills spoken by people of various places of origin. Details of the by-census are available in the technical report of the corresponding dataset (Census and Statistics Department, 2017b).

This study restricts the sample to the working population aged from 15 to 65 years old.³ Foreign domestic helpers were excluded from the sample as they are different from other groups in terms of their job nature and residency status. All foreign domestic helpers are required to provide full-time live-in domestic services at their employers’ residences and to serve their employers’ household members. They are not allowed to take up any other work or to work anywhere other than employers’ addresses (Labour Department, 2020). Given the nature of their contract, they are not eligible to apply for permanent resident status no matter how long they stay in Hong Kong.

Variables

The dependent variable is the natural logarithm of the monthly income from main employment. As a substantial proportion of individuals in Hong Kong can speak more than one language, this study measures the spoken languages of individuals by eight mutually exclusive dummy variables: (i) Cantonese; (ii) English; (iii) Putonghua; (iv) Cantonese and English; (v) Cantonese and Putonghua; (vi) English and Putonghua; (vii) Cantonese, English and Putonghua; and (viii) none of Cantonese, English or Putonghua. The variable of Cantonese is used as the reference group in the analysis of the full sample of the working population, as it is the native language in Hong Kong. The variable of none of Cantonese, English or Putonghua is adopted as the reference group for the analysis of the Asian minority sample.

This study uses place of birth to define immigrants from different regions of origin, with individuals born in Hong Kong (Hong Kongers for short) as the reference group. Drawing on the dimensions of the global economic power structure and English proficiency, we classify the immigrants into several categories. The Asian minorities in this study are defined as those who were born in less-developed or developing non-English-speaking Asian countries, including Pakistan, Nepal, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.⁴ This study also includes several dichotomous variables indicating individuals from different regions, including those from: Mainland China, Macau or Taiwan;⁵ developing Asian English-speaking countries (Malaysia or Philippines); developed Asian countries (Japan, South Korea or Singapore);⁶ the UK;⁷ western countries other than the UK (e.g. the USA or Canada); and other non-Asian and non-western countries.

This study includes various control variables to capture individuals’ socio-demographic and employment characteristics, which may be related to their earnings. The socio-demographic variables include sex, marital status and years of schooling. The variables of individuals’ employment include employment status, work experience and occupations. The variable of work experience is imputed as an individual’s age minus their years of schooling minus six because individuals are assumed to enter the labour market when they graduate. Based on the International Standard Classification of Occupation 2008, this study includes a set of categorical occupational variables with elementary occupations as the reference group. In the analysis of the Asian minorities sample, we include a dichotomous variable of high-paid jobs comprised of managers, administrators, professionals and associate professionals (with the other occupations as reference). As the time that immigrants have stayed in the host society positively affects their proficiency in the native language and their assimilation (Geurts and Lubbers, 2017), we control for their duration of residence in Hong Kong (measured in years) in the analysis of Asian minorities.

Modelling strategy

This study employs the Mincer earnings regression to examine the economic returns from language skills. The regression models of this study are specified as:

$\begin{matrix} \log (monthly income)_{i} = α + β_{1 j} PLAC E_{ij} \\ + β_{2 k} LAN G_{ik} \\ + γ X_{i} + ε_{i}, \end{matrix}$ (1)

In this equation, the logged monthly income from main employment for individual i is modelled as a function of their place of birth, languages and control variables. $PLAC E_{ij}$ refers to the place of birth of individual i, and j indicates the dichotomous variables of the place of birth. $LAN G_{ik}$ refers to the spoken language of individual i, and k indicates the dichotomous variables of spoken languages. $X_{i}$ refers to a vector of control variables. Here, β represents the coefficients of the respective variables.

Empirical findings

Based on the 5% random sub-sample of the 2016 Hong Kong Population By-census, Table 1 presents the summary statistics of the working population and Asian minorities. The median monthly earnings of the overall working population and Asian minorities are HKD15,500 and 12,600, respectively.

Table 1.

Summary statistics of the dataset.

	Working population
	Full sample	Asian minorities
Median monthly earnings (HKD)	15,500	12,600
Place of birth
Asian minority	1.6	N.A.
Mainland China/Macau/Taiwan	27.8	N.A.
Developed Asian countries	0.4	N.A.
Developing Asian countries (English speaking)	0.6	N.A.
UK	0.5	N.A.
Western countries (English speaking)	0.6	N.A.
Other countries	0.6	N.A.
Hong Kong (Ref. group)	67.9	N.A.
Sex
Female	45.4	45.7
Male (Ref. group)	54.6	54.3
Spoken language (mutually exclusive)
Cantonese only	29.2	15.3
English only	2.0	33.9
Putonghua only	0.4	0.0
Putonghua and Cantonese	12.2	6.5
English and Putonghua	0.6	1.6
English and Cantonese	12.7	25.1
English, Putonghua and Cantonese	42.6	14.1
None	0.3	3.4
Marital status
Married	60.1	76.8
Widowed/divorced	6.3	8.0
Single (Ref. group)	33.6	15.1
Years of schooling	12.387	11.567
Employment status
Employer	3.6	4.4
Self-employed	7.7	6.4
Employee (Ref. group)	88.7	89.2
Occupation
Managers and administrators	10.9	12.5
Professionals	7.8	5.4
Associate professionals	22.7	12.2
Clerical support workers	15.7	5.9
Service workers and sales workers	18.9	27.8
Skilled agricultural and fishery workers	0.1	0.0
Craft and related workers	6.1	5.9
Plant and machine operators and assemblers	4.5	3.6
Elementary occupations	13.1	26.6
Occupation (median income in HKD)
Managers and administrators	44,000	52,000
Professionals	36,200	37,200
Associate professionals	21,300	20,000
Clerical support workers	14,000	12,750
Service workers and sales workers	12,000	10,800
Skilled agricultural and fishery workers	11,000	7500
Craft and related workers	15,000	15,000
Plant and machine operators and assemblers	13,000	14,000
Elementary occupations	10,000	10,000
Years of work experience	23.634	23.948
Number of observations	166,044	2595

Notes: Asian minorities refer to those who were born in less-developed or developing non-English-speaking Asian countries, including Pakistan, Nepal, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. All numbers are in percentages unless specified otherwise.

Those born in less-developed or developing non-English-speaking Asian countries account for 1.6% of the sample, which is classified as Asian minorities in this study. Note that this group is larger than those born in the UK (0.5%), in English-speaking developing Asian countries (0.6%) and in English-speaking western countries (0.6%). While Hong Kong natives account for 67.9%, individuals who come from Mainland China, Macau and Taiwan are the second-largest group in Hong Kong (27.8%).

In a dynamic international city like Hong Kong, 31.6% of the working population speak only one of the three languages but this ratio increased to 49.2% for Asian minorities. In the full sample, 42.6% reported that they can speak Cantonese, English and Putonghua, while around a quarter speak two of the three languages. Bearing in mind that Asian minorities are likely to speak their mother tongues, 14.1% of them speak all three common languages of Hong Kong and 33.2% speak two of these three languages. The analysis in this article focuses on three spoken languages, namely Cantonese, English and Putonghua, and ignores other spoken languages. When this article describes an Asian immigrant as speaking Cantonese and English, it means they do not speak Putonghua but it doesn’t mean they do not speak other languages.

How do earnings returns differ among immigrants originating from different places?

Table 2 reports the results of the two regression models with the natural logarithm of main employment earnings as the dependent variable, and the independent variables include a set of the place of birth dummies (Hong Kongers as a reference group), seven mutually exclusive spoken language dummies and other socio-economic variables. Model 1 is the base model whereas Model 2 adds the occupation variables.

Table 2.

Earnings regression models for the full sample of working population.

Independent variable	Model 1	Model 2
Place of birth (Ref. = Hong Kong)
Asian minority	−0.219*** (0.014)	−0.138*** (0.013)
Mainland China/Macau/Taiwan	−0.101*** (0.004)	−0.069*** (0.004)
Developed Asian countries	0.147*** (0.027)	0.072*** (0.024)
Developing Asian countries (English speaking)	−0.284*** (0.022)	−0.196*** (0.020)
UK	0.402*** (0.025)	0.241*** (0.023)
Western countries (English speaking)	0.351*** (0.021)	0.215*** (0.019)
Other countries	0.170*** (0.022)	0.094*** (0.020)
Language ability (Ref. = Cantonese only)
English only	0.257*** (0.015)	0.152*** (0.014)
Putonghua only	0.113*** (0.027)	0.034 (0.024)
English and Putonghua	0.501*** (0.021)	0.266*** (0.019)
English and Cantonese	0.094*** (0.006)	0.038*** (0.005)
Putonghua and Cantonese	−0.072*** (0.006)	−0.058*** (0.005)
English, Putonghua and Cantonese	0.110*** (0.004)	0.037*** (0.004)
None	0.042 (0.032)	0.046 (0.029)
Female (Ref. = male)	−0.209*** (0.003)	−0.164*** (0.003)
Marital status (Ref. = single)
Married	0.168*** (0.004)	0.112*** (0.004)
Widowed/divorced	0.059*** (0.008)	0.043*** (0.007)
Years of schooling	0.112*** (0.001)	0.050*** (0.001)
Employment status (Ref. = employee)
Employer	0.297*** (0.009)	0.000 (0.008)
Self-employed	−0.222*** (0.006)	−0.268*** (0.006)
Occupation (Ref. = elementary occupations)
Managers and administrators		1.165*** (0.007)
Professionals		1.061*** (0.008)
Associate professionals		0.627*** (0.006)
Clerical support workers		0.271*** (0.006)
Service workers and sales workers		0.180*** (0.005)
Skilled agricultural and fishery workers		0.162*** (0.039)
Craft and related workers		0.344*** (0.007)
Plant and machine operators and assemblers		0.181*** (0.008)
Work experience	0.052*** (0.000)	0.043*** (0.000)
Work experience^2	−0.001*** (0.000)	−0.001*** (0.000)
Constant	7.669*** (0.011)	8.167*** (0.011)
R ²	0.332	0.473
Number of observations	166,044	166,044

Notes: Standard errors in parentheses. ***p < 0.01. **p < 0.05. *p < 0.1.

The results show that place of birth is important in determining earnings. Compared with natives, Asian minorities earn significantly less after controlling for variation in socio-economic characteristics (Model 1) and occupations (Model 2). This suggests that Asian minorities are generally disadvantaged in the labour market. It is worth noting that the effect of the developing English-speaking Asian countries is also significantly negative on earnings. Nevertheless, different from Asian minorities, immigrants from developing English-speaking Asian countries are usually English speakers. Their advantage of English proficiency is captured by the variables of language ability controlled for in the models. In other words, the interpretations of these immigrants’ earnings should consider not only the effect of their country of origin but also the effects of language ability.

On the contrary, those who come from the UK and other western countries earn significantly more than Hong Kongers. In these western countries, the population mainly consists of Caucasians. The seeming paradox of the ethnic discrimination against Asian minorities and the privilege of white immigrants may echo existing studies on ‘white privilege’ in the labour market of Hong Kong (e.g. Leonard, 2010; Li, 2021; Tong et al., 2018).

Nevertheless, the findings also relate to global economic and power structures, and to Hong Kong as a global city with its British colonial past. In the global economic and power structures, a power imbalance between core and peripheral countries can influence immigrants’ labour market outcomes. Immigrants from core countries, which are developed countries, are advantaged in the labour market of global cities such as Hong Kong (Tong et al., 2018).

In recent decades, Hong Kong has become a regional business hub within the globalised economic system. Multinational corporations (MNCs) have set up their regional headquarters or offices in Hong Kong (HKSAR Government, 2021b). Additionally, with the dramatic growth of financial and professional services in Hong Kong, the number of managerial and professional positions has increased while that of skilled or semi-skilled positions has decreased (Chiu and Lui, 2004). White immigrants are more likely to take up managerial and professional positions, particularly in MNCs established by white people in core nations.

Even for the same position, white immigrants are more likely to enjoy premiums in earnings or allowances than their counterparts born in Hong Kong. This is not only because their educational qualifications from core nations are fully recognised in Hong Kong, but also because their professional knowledge, managerial skills, working experience and even social capital are transferable and highly valued in global cities such as Hong Kong (Tong et al., 2018). However, Asian minorities face a big hurdle in transferring their home countries’ (non-English) educational qualifications and work experience to the host society. Also, as the average earnings of those working in the core countries are higher than those of workers in Asian countries, they should enjoy an earnings premium when they choose to work in Hong Kong. This selectivity factor should be considered, and the earnings premium should not be necessarily interpreted as white privilege.

The global power structure also relates to past colonial powers and their ties with former colonies. As various types of links, such as cultural, linguistic, administrative and investment, were created during the colonial era, specific transnational markets and cultural systems were formed (Massey et al., 1998). The colonial legacy may thus remain in the labour market in the post-colonial era. In the case of Hong Kong, a former British colony, the advantages of British whiteness in the workplace of Hong Kong are found to be evident after the handover in 1997 (Leonard, 2010). In sum, the significant earnings differentials of immigrants from different origins are situated in the context of the global economic and power structure and this global city with its colonial past.

What are the earnings returns from language skills?

The empirical evidence presented in Table 2 (Model 1) shows that English language skill pays handsomely in the labour market. Compared with Cantonese speakers, English speakers and English and Putonghua speakers enjoy an earnings premium of 29.3%⁸ and 65.0% respectively. A slightly surprising result is that those who speak all three languages obtain a lower premium (11.6%) than those who speak English only or English and Putonghua. This puzzling result deserves further investigation. For example, perhaps the trilingual speakers are disadvantaged in earnings for their poor proficiency in English or Putonghua. In this sense, how and where people learned their languages may matter.

The language advantage of English in earnings remains significant after controlling for occupations (Model 2). However, the advantage of Putonghua (but not English) skill becomes insignificant after controlling for occupation. Seemingly, the positive effect of Putonghua on earnings is mainly mediated by the attainment of jobs with good pay. In other words, Putonghua speakers are more likely to attain certain jobs (such as at branch offices of Mainland firms) than those who speak Cantonese only.

It is worth noting that those who speak Cantonese and Putonghua (but not English) have lower earnings than Cantonese speakers. In the sample, those who speak Putonghua and Cantonese mainly come from Mainland China (more than 70%). The lower earnings of these bilingual Mainlanders may reflect that the quality of their schooling is perceived as low or is not fully recognised in the labour market of Hong Kong (Lui and Suen, 1998). Another plausible reason is that they may lack market-specific knowledge and English proficiency in Hong Kong.

Which language matters to Asian minorities?

The results of Table 2 show the disadvantage of Asian minorities and the positive role of language skills in earnings. This study now turns to the question of whether language skills can increase Asian minorities’ earnings. To answer this question, the study runs earnings regression using the Asian minority sample, with those who do not speak the three common languages in Hong Kong as the reference group. The results are presented in Table 3. Model 1 is the base model whereas Model 2 adds the variable of high-paid jobs.

Table 3.

Earnings regression models for Asian minorities.

Independent variable	Model 1	Model 2
Spoken language (Ref. = none of the three languages)
Cantonese only	0.095 (0.078)	0.048 (0.070)
English only	0.259*** (0.074)	0.157** (0.066)
English and Putonghua	0.151 (0.140)	−0.069 (0.127)
English and Cantonese	0.002 (0.075)	−0.006 (0.067)
Putonghua and Cantonese	−0.090 (0.090)	−0.084 (0.081)
English, Putonghua and Cantonese	0.186** (0.086)	0.018 (0.078)
Female (Ref = male)	−0.365*** (0.029)	−0.315*** (0.026)
Marital status (Ref. = single)
Married	0.120*** (0.042)	0.080** (0.038)
Widowed/divorced	0.115* (0.064)	0.071 (0.058)
Years of schooling	0.106*** (0.005)	0.050*** (0.005)
Employment status (Ref. = employee)
Employer	0.335*** (0.065)	0.091 (0.060)
Self-employed	0.052 (0.055)	−0.139*** (0.050)
High-paid occupation (Ref. = others)		0.825*** (0.034)
Work experience	0.024*** (0.004)	0.020*** (0.004)
Work experience^2	−0.000** (0.000)	−0.000*** (0.000)
Years of residence (in Hong Kong)	0.011 (0.010)	0.027*** (0.009)
Years of residence^2	−0.001 (0.000)	−0.001*** (0.000)
Constant	7.840*** (0.108)	8.348*** (0.100)
R ²	0.339	0.463
Number of observations	2595	2595

Notes: The dichotomous variable of high-paid occupation is comprised of managers, administrators, professionals and associate professionals (with the other occupations as reference). No Asian minorities speak only Putonghua. Standard errors in parentheses. ***p < 0.01. **p < 0.05. *p < 0.1.

The results show that English provides a competitive advantage for Asian minorities in earnings. Compared with those who do not speak the three common languages, English speakers and trilingual speakers enjoy an earnings premium. The relatively large size of the coefficient of English and Putonghua seems to show its advantage in earnings, but the effect is statistically insignificant.

It should be emphasised that knowledge of Cantonese does not have a significant positive effect on earnings, despite it being the native language in Hong Kong. A possible explanation is that jobs that require Cantonese only are usually low-skilled and low-paid jobs in the service sector, mainly serving local people, such as security, cleaning and courier services. As for the small and insignificant effect of English and Cantonese on earnings (Model 1), it is possible that those who can only speak English (other than Cantonese and Putonghua) are different from those who can speak both English and Cantonese. The English-speaking Asian minorities are very likely to speak English more fluently for communications than those bilingual in English and Cantonese. This seemingly puzzling result calls for dedicated survey research on the proficiency of different languages and immigrants’ economic assimilation.

The effect of Asian minorities’ language skills on earnings is potentially endogenous, as some of them receive high pay by occupation, while others are low-paid elementary workers. This study tries to understand whether language skills can increase their chance of securing high-paid occupations (as a group) versus occupations with similar median income (as a reference group). Therefore, we control the variable of high-paid jobs in Model 2. In this newly added variable, managers, administrators, professionals and associate professionals are defined as having high-paid jobs, as the median incomes of these occupations are distinctly higher than those of the rest (Table 1). The results show that the competitive advantage of English-speaking Asian minorities remains significant (despite a decrease) in earnings premiums, after controlling for high-paid jobs. But the advantage of bilingual speakers of English and Putonghua and the trilingual speakers of the three common languages becomes small and insignificant.

The results on the changes of language premiums across Models 1 and 2 suggest that the language advantages’ effect on earnings may work through the attainment of high-paid occupations. To investigate whether this is the case, we conduct a logistic regression analysis to examine the effect of spoken languages on Asian minorities’ attainment of high-paid jobs. The results presented in Table 4 show that, compared with those who cannot speak any of the three common languages, English-speaking (but not Cantonese- or Putonghua-speaking) Asian minorities are 2.082 times more likely to attain a high-paid job. The bilingual speakers of English and Putonghua and the trilingual speakers of the three common languages are around five times more likely to attain a high-paid job than their counterparts without these language skills.

Table 4.

Logistic regression analysis of high-paid occupations for Asian minorities.

Independent variable	Coefficient	Relative risk ratio
Spoken language (Ref. = none of the three languages)
Cantonese only	−0.086 (0.515)	0.918 (0.473)
English only	1.126*** (0.436)	3.082*** (1.345)
English and Putonghua	1.644** (0.641)	5.178** (3.318)
English and Cantonese	0.540 (0.444)	1.716 (0.763)
Putonghua and Cantonese	0.689 (0.527)	1.992 (1.049)
English, Putonghua and Cantonese	1.735*** (0.474)	5.668*** (2.687)
Female (Ref = male)	−0.619*** (0.123)	0.539*** (0.066)
Marital status (Ref. = single)
Married	0.175 (0.172)	1.191 (0.205)
Widowed/divorced	0.154 (0.322)	1.167 (0.376)
Years of schooling	0.577*** (0.027)	1.781*** (0.047)
Work experience	0.064*** (0.020)	1.066*** (0.021)
Work experience^2	−0.001* (0.000)	0.999* (0.000)
Years of residence (in Hong Kong)	−0.102** (0.041)	0.903** (0.037)
Years of residence^2	0.004** (0.002)	1.004** (0.002)
Constant	−9.475*** (0.611)	0.000*** (0.000)
Likelihood-ratio chi-square	1290	1290
Number of observations	2595	2595

Notes: Standard errors in parentheses. ***p < 0.01. **p < 0.05. *p < 0.1.

Taken together, the results of Tables 3 and 4 show that the ability to speak English and the official language of China (Putonghua) instead of the native language (Cantonese) generates higher earnings returns for Asian minorities. More importantly, the effect of such a language advantage on earnings is mediated by the attainment of high-paid occupations. The mediating effect of occupation means that mastery of English and Putonghua provides the earnings premium for the Asian minorities by facilitating their attainment of a high-paid job. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that those with English skills still enjoy a significant earnings premium after controlling for job attainment.

Conclusion and discussion

In an era of globalisation, international migration is fairly common among North Americans (e.g. Waters and Pineau, 2015) and Europeans (e.g. Drouhot, 2021). The challenges for racial and ethnic minority immigrants in economic assimilation to host societies and their earnings disparity as compared with those of natives are well documented (e.g. Villarreal and Tamborini, 2018; see also Waters and Jiménez (2005) for a review). The findings of this study challenge the common assumption of earlier literature that immigrants are usually disadvantaged in the labour market of the host society. The empirical results show the heterogeneity of immigrants in terms of economic assimilation in Hong Kong. After controlling for language skills and demographic characteristics, Asian minority immigrants who come from less-developed or developing non-English-speaking countries earn significantly less than the local people. This study about the heterogeneity of immigrants in economic assimilation not only sheds new light on understanding of the assimilation of immigrants but also directs research attention to Asian minorities, who are disadvantaged immigrants in the assimilation. It must be stressed that international migration is largely the result of a voluntary decision. International migrants should be better off by moving to the host society rather than staying in the home country.

Languages in assimilation: A local problem in the global context

As an Asian global city, Hong Kong is famous for its mix of western and oriental culture, where English (the dominant business language) and the native language (Cantonese) are used widely. Drawing on the Hong Kong case, this study shows that compared with their counterparts with an absence of English, Cantonese and the official language of China (Putonghua), Asian minorities who speak Cantonese do not have significant advantages in earnings. Instead, mastery of English, Putonghua or the three common languages provides Asian minorities with an earnings premium.

More importantly, this study shows that the effects of language advantages on earnings are mediated by the attainment of high-paid occupations. The English and Putonghua language skills enhance the chance for Asian minorities to attain high-paid occupations. This study argues that the role of language in immigrants’ economic assimilation should be understood in the context of Hong Kong as a global city with a colonial past. Relating to its British colonial history, English has long been the official language in Hong Kong, and the colonial legacy remains evident in the labour market amidst the post-colonial era (Leonard, 2010). Moreover, English is also strongly related to the global economic power structure. In recent decades, Hong Kong positioned itself as a premier regional business hub. Many MNCs place their strategic functions and establish their regional headquarters or corporate treasury centres in Hong Kong (HKSAR Government, 2021b). Therefore, English is widely used in the business sector, and managers, administrators, professionals and associate professionals usually require a good mastery of English.

Additionally, the connections between Hong Kong and the Mainland have been strengthened after the city’s handover. Putonghua as the national standard Chinese language and the official language of China has become more important in business communications (Lui, 2007). Although Cantonese is the native language, its effect is insignificant on the economic assimilation of immigrants. A possible reason is that people searching for well-paid jobs in a highly internationalised city may not rely on the local social network, the development of which is associated with command of the native language. In this sense, immigrants’ assimilation in the host society is not just a local problem but relates to the global and regional contextual factors of the city.

Policy implications and future study

Like other developed societies, Hong Kong has been facing the challenges of an ageing population (Chow, 2002), and attracting immigrants is an important approach in tackling this problem. While immigrants choose to pursue their ‘Asian dreams’ in Hong Kong, it is of great policy importance to retain them and facilitate their assimilation, or even enable them to fulfil their ‘dreams’.

Given the importance of English and Putonghua skills in Asian minorities’ economic assimilation, the Hong Kong government should revisit its language support policy in enhancing their employability. Meanwhile, it is advisable for potential Asian minority migrants to better prepare themselves before settling down in Hong Kong. Unlike in other host societies, in Hong Kong mastery of the native language is not as important as learning the dominant non-native business language. People who do not speak the native language in Hong Kong will not face big hurdles in their daily life. Naturally, mastering the native language is useful to adapt to the local culture, but the earnings premium of the native language is lower than that of the dominant business language.

We suggest two main areas that are worth exploring. First, the dataset used in this study does not contain information on the level of language proficiency of immigrants. Researchers are recommended to conduct dedicated surveys to analyse how the proficiency in different languages and the duration of residence affect immigrants’ economic assimilation. Second, this study shows that Asian minorities on average earn a lower wage than natives. It is worth investigating whether this wage gap is due to differentials in productivity or other factors. In sum, more studies are needed in Hong Kong and in other Asian and other global cities to enhance understanding of the assimilation of immigrants in a non-western context.

Footnotes

The authors thank Shenjing He and the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,authorship,and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research,authorship,and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by a Start-up Grant (No. 162660) from the Hong Kong Baptist University.

ORCID iDs

Jin Jiang

Hon-Kwong Lui

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