Wage Returns to English Proficiency in Poland

Abstract

We investigate the effect of English language proficiency on the wages of native full-time employees in Poland. Using a unique data set with information on over 600,000 survey respondents polled over the five-year period from 2013 to 2017, we employ an IVapproach founded on a natural experiment -namely, the reform of foreign language instruction in Polish schools. Our preferred estimates indicate that monthly wages for those individuals with 'good' or 'very good' knowledge of English exceeded the wages of those with 'no English' (or those with just a conversational proficiency) by nearly 60% for men and more than 50% for women. The estimates are statistically significant for both genders, and suggest quantitatively relevant wage returns for proficiency in English.

The dynamic role of the English language in contemporary Poland

“…Interestingly, advanced German or French proficiency corresponded with similar wage increases, which suggests that employers value multilingualism rather than proficiency in English per se. Another study also found that the financial benefits of knowing foreign languages varied somewhat by gender: Proficiency in English corresponded with a 60% increase in monthly wages for men but a 50% increase for women, which was a statistically significant difference (Adamchik et al., 2019).…”