Kaushal, Neeraj. 2006. “Amnesty Programs and the Labor Market Outcomes of Undocumented Workers.” Journal of Human Resources 41(3): 631–647.
I investigate the effect of the 1997 Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) on employment and earnings of undocumented foreign-born men from Nicaragua, Cuba, Guatemala, and El Salvador who were eligible for amnesty under the Act. I find that NACARA had a modest effect on the employment of these men; raised their real wage by 3 percent and weekly earnings by 4 percent. Estimates show that NACARA raised the wage of the target group without a high school degree by a statistically insignificant 1 percent and of those with high school or higher education by a statistically significant 5 percent
Neeraj Kaushal is an assistant professor in the school of social work at Columbia University. The author thanks Robert Kaestner, William Evans, Michael Grossman, Cordelia Reimers, Jane Waldfogel, and two anonymous referees for their highly valuable suggestions. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning January 2007 through December 2010 from Neeraj Kaushal, 1255 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, New York 10027. nk464@columbia.edu.