US hiring laws shape the types of jobs undocumented migrants can access, often limiting them to roles with low detection risk. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program granted temporary work authorization to undocumented childhood arrivals. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we estimate how DACA eligibility affected young adults’ occupational outcomes. DACA reduced the likelihood of working in traditional immigrant or high-injury jobs and increased entry into government positions and occupations requiring licensing. Overall, DACA shifted noncitizen childhood immigrants into better-paying, higher-skill jobs, suggesting that legal barriers—not ability—limit undocumented youths’ employment opportunities, leading to substantial misallocation of talent.
Chin et al. (Fri,) studied this question.