Unlocking Occupational Opportunity: The Labor Market Effects of DACA

Aimee Chin, Kalena E. Cortes and Camila Morales

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2026, vol. 116, 344-350

Abstract: 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.

JEL-codes: J13 J15 J18 J24 J28 K31 K37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pandp.20261099 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/materials/25228 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/materials/25229 (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:apandp:v:116:y:2026:p:344-350

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/subscribe.html

DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20261099

Access Statistics for this article

AEA Papers and Proceedings is currently edited by William Johnson and Kelly Markel

More articles in AEA Papers and Proceedings from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().