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The Effect of Employer Enrollment in E-Verify on Low-Skilled U.S. Workers

Author

Listed:
  • Orrenius, Pia M.

    (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas)

  • Zavodny, Madeline

    (University of North Florida)

Abstract

U.S. employers can check whether the workers they hire are legally eligible for employment using E-Verify, a free electronic system run by the federal government. We use confidential data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide the first examination of whether increases in employer enrollment in the E-Verify system affect employment and earnings among workers who are particularly likely to be unauthorized, namely Hispanic non-naturalized immigrants who have not completed high school, and their U.S.-citizen counterparts. We find evidence of negative effects on likely unauthorized immigrant men but positive effects on women. These results are robust to instrumenting for endogenous employer enrollment with state laws that require some or all employers to use the E-Verify system. The results are consistent with a household model of labor supply among unauthorized immigrants.

Suggested Citation

  • Orrenius, Pia M. & Zavodny, Madeline, 2020. "The Effect of Employer Enrollment in E-Verify on Low-Skilled U.S. Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 13581, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13581
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Shalise Ayromloo & Benjamin Feigenberg & Darren Lubotsky, 2020. "States Taking the Reins? Employment Verification Requirements and Local Labor Market Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 26676, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    employment eligibility verification; E-Verify; undocumented immigrants; illegal immigrants;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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