Using the Juhn-Murphy-Pierce (1993) wage decomposition technique, we analyzed changes in the earnings differential between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white men in the United States between 1980 and 2000. The empirical findings, based on decennial census data, indicate that limited-English-proficient (LEP) Hispanic men gained in their relative earnings position compared to Englishfluent Hispanics...

BACKGROUND Compared with non-Latinos, Latinos in the US have low rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and low rates of knowledge regarding CRC screening tests and guidelines. Spanish speaking Latinos have particularly low CRC screening rates and screening knowledge. Our purpose was twofold: (1) to evaluate the effect of a computer-based, Spanish-language CRC screening decision aid on scre...

OBJECTIVES We assessed the impact of interpreter services on the cost and the utilization of health care services among patients with limited English proficiency. METHODS We measured the change in delivery and cost of care provided to patients enrolled in a health maintenance organization before and after interpreter services were implemented. RESULTS Compared with English-speaking patients...

INTRODUCTION The emergency telephone number 9-1-1 serves as a lifeline to the public during emergencies, and first responders rely on information gathered by 9-1-1 telecommunicators who speak with callers. Timely, accurate information from the telecommunicators is essential for providing appropriate care on scene. Language barriers can hamper these efforts and result in less efficient informati...

This paper studies the effects of English proficiency on employment of U.S. foreign-born immigrants, using data from the 2001 American Community Survey (ACS). It shows that English proficiency plays an important role in immigrants’ employment and its effects on employment patterns across genders are different. Probit regressions show that immigrants with a higher level of English proficiency ar...

This paper addresses the effect of English proficiency on economic growth empirically with Barro-type cross-sectional growth regression. The empirical results provide evidence of positive correlation between initial English proficiency and economic growth only for the countries in the Asia and Europe. Therefore, countries with higher levels of English proficiency among the fraction of its popul...

BACKGROUND Although the number of people living in the United States with limited English proficiency (LEP) is substantial, the impact of language on patients' experience of provider-patient communication has been little explored. METHODS We conducted a series of 12 exploratory focus groups in English, Spanish and Cantonese to elicit discussion about patient-provider communication, particular...