Study on foreign language proficiency and employability: executive summary1

Policy context

The 2002 Barcelona objective “to improve the mastery of basic skills in particular by teaching at least two foreign languages from a very early age” and to provide young people with foreign language competences that will support economic growth has been pursued through a range of European Commission activities. Key elements of this are:

• • The Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training (ET2020).

• • Rethinking Education (2012) – launched to support the ET2020 strategy – which identified aspects of European education and training systems that continue to fall short in providing the right skills for employability.

• • A recent draft joint report on the “New priorities for European cooperation in education and training” which underlines the relevance of foreign language competences – along with other key competences and attitudes – to enhance employability, innovation and active citizenship.

Against this background, this report presents the result of a study on the relationship between foreign language proficiency and employability in European Member States commissioned by DG EMPL.

Study objectives and research activities

The study’s objectives and research activities are illustrated below. [Study overview: research questions and research activities²]

This summary presents the main findings from the research activities, with the resulting conclusions and recommendations.

Foreign languages skills and the labour market: what is known from existing research?

The study identified 16 studies on the demand for foreign language skills in the labour market for detailed review. The following high-level findings were drawn out:

• • The scale of need for foreign language skills is substantial (except probably for English-speaking countries): studies consistently found that about one-fifth to one-quarter of jobs require an advanced level of foreign-language skills (i.e. a level that goes beyond very basic knowledge and that therefore employers will include in the description of job vacancies).

• • The scale of need increases with the job level (i.e. the level of education required to do the job): while many of the jobs performed by higher education graduates require foreign language proficiency, few of the medium-level professions have such requirements and relatively few of the positions for the low-skilled.

• • While English is in demand as a foreign language for business, this is not the case for all international trade especially for neighbour cross-border trade and trade with businesses in the large non-English-speaking economies (both in and outside the EU) though the extent of this is not known across the EU.

• • Foreign language needs appear to be different across sectors and seem to depend on businesses’ participation in cross-border trade. Existing research finds the importance of foreign language skills to be highest in the manufacturing/industry sector and lowest in public services. Little is known about trends and there are no comprehensive data on the demand for foreign languages by business sector across Europe.

• • Since a low need for foreign languages appears to be associated with a focus of the business on the domestic market,³ it seems reasonable to expect that demand may be greater from businesses in countries with smaller internal markets, although supply chains and the increasing benefits of the free movement of goods and services within the EU appear to be extending demand for foreign language skills. While businesses using foreign language skills appear to benefit from this, those that do not may not be realizing their potential.

• • Despite this, foreign language skills are not as commonly seen as essential transversal skills for new entrants as other such skills. Foreign languages are however a prerequisite for some roles/occupations. Little is known about the level of competency required by businesses for roles/occupations.

• • There are believed to be employability benefits for individuals with language skills – other than enabling mobility – where such skills are needed. Businesses value job seekers with foreign language skills as global markets mean that workforces need to be increasingly multilingual and the number of languages used are believed to have a positive influence on export success.⁴

• • Little is known about how commonly employers assess potential recruits’ language skills and which are most used but a variety of approaches is...