Some fields, including medical care, might reward bilingual workers with higher pay. Not everyone agrees on the connections between being bilingual and higher income; in some instances, for example, among low-income laborers who speak Spanish and English versus speaking Spanish alone, earnings tend to be higher. But this might not be true across the board. Forbes states that survey findings indicate that bilingual employees are more highly valued than employees who speak just one language, resulting in higher pay.

Bilingual employees might be able to better communicate with co-workers, clients or vendors who speak different languages, for example. However, research has not yet confirmed that bilingualism is reliably associated with greater earnings.

In , Stanford University reported that, at that time, empirical studies could not draw a firm line between being bilingual and earning more money, although there is anecdotal evidence that some companies do pay bilingual workers more.

Cognitively speaking, being bilingual positively impacts the brain by helping it resolve internal conflicts and multitask, according to Forbes. According to Columbia University, the monetary value of bilingualism depends on the employment sector. Among non-supervising manufacturing jobs, speaking Spanish and English among Latino employees resulted in higher pay.

Bilingualism Translates Into Higher Earnings, Study Finds | University of Guelph

However, in public service jobs, bilingual workers did not earn as much as monolingual colleagues. DirectEmployers states jobs where bilingualism proves especially helpful includes translation, interpreting and tour guidance.

Teaching, nursing and business are other fields where speaking more than one language helps facilitate communication. Morgan Rush is a California journalist specializing in news, business writing, fitness and travel.

He's written for numerous publications at the national, state and local level, including newspapers, magazines and websites. Rush holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, San Diego.

Skip to main content. Value of Bilingual Employees Forbes states that survey findings indicate that bilingual employees are more highly valued than employees who speak just one language, resulting in higher pay.

Why It Pays to Be Bilingual - AOL Finance

It Depends on the Job According to Columbia University, the monetary value of bilingualism depends on the employment sector. Do Multilingual Individuals Earn More Money?

California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office: The Effects of Bilingualism on Hispanic Earnings DirectEmployers: Career Advantages of Being Multilingual Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies: Is Spanish Bilingualism Truly an Economic Benefit in New York? The Effects of Bilingualism on Hispanic Earnings Stanford University: Resources 1 Psychology Today: Can Bilingualism Offset the Impact of Poverty?

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