This book provides a unique insight into negotiations around language investment for employability in the context of public employment services. Drawing on extensive ethnographical research carried out in Regional Employment Offices in Switzerland, the authors follow the stories of various job seekers. In doing so, they challenge the currently dominant assumption that investment in language competences leads to better employability. Arguing for a political economic perspective on these issues, this book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the connections between language and social inequality, as well as students and scholars of sociolinguistics and applied linguistics. 

Mi-Cha Flubacher is Postdoctoral Assistant at the Department of Linguistics, University of Vienna, Austria. Previously a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Multilingualism at the University of Fribourg, her research interests centre on language and work, and language and migration / integration. Alexandre Duchêne is Professor of the Sociology of Language at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. His research interests centre on issues of language, political economy and social inequalities. Renata Coray is Research Coordinator at the Institute of Multilingualism at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Her research interests and expertise include multilingualism in administration and in the workplace, and language policy and minority languages in Switzerland.

Preface.- Chapter 1. Language investment and employability: an introduction.- Chapter 2. The politics of investment and employability in the public employment service.- Chapter 3. The logic of return on language investment in the allocation of resources for employability.- Chapter 4. The uneven recognition of language investment for employability.- Chapter 5. Concluding considerations about language investment and employability from a political economic perspective.