IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v86y2005is1p1279-1298.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Differential Wage Impact of the Immigration Reform and Control Act on Latino Ethnic Subgroups

Author

Listed:
  • Cynthia Bansak

Abstract

Objective. This article tests whether employer sanctions for hiring undocumented workers, a provision of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), adversely affected the hourly earnings of Latino workers. Methods. Using the Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group Files from 1983–1990, a natural experiment framework is developed to assess the differential wage impact of employer sanctions on Latino ethnic subgroups. Results. Estimates of wage changes indicate that workers of Mexican descent saw a sizeable pre‐post IRCA decline in their hourly earnings relative to Cuban or Puerto Rican workers. Moreover, this change in wages is not observed among non‐Latino white workers. Controlling for the level of enforcement explains part of this decline immediately following the passage of IRCA, and enforcement efforts continue to be a significant factor several years later. Conclusions. The majority of evidence is consistent with the contention that employer sanctions adversely affected the earnings of Mexican workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Cynthia Bansak, 2005. "The Differential Wage Impact of the Immigration Reform and Control Act on Latino Ethnic Subgroups," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 86(s1), pages 1279-1298, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:86:y:2005:i:s1:p:1279-1298
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0038-4941.2005.00346.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0038-4941.2005.00346.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.0038-4941.2005.00346.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tara Watson, 2014. "Inside the Refrigerator: Immigration Enforcement and Chilling Effects in Medicaid Participation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 313-338, August.
    2. Stark, Oded & Jakubek, Marcin, 2012. "Employer sanctions, and the welfare of native workers," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 533-536.
    3. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Cynthia Bansak, 2011. "The Impact of Amnesty on Labor Market Outcomes: A Panel Study Using the Legalized Population Survey," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 443-471, July.
    4. Stark, Oded & Jakubek, Marcin, 2021. "Employer sanctions: A policy with a pitfall?," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 149, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
    5. Mark Hoekstra & Sandra Orozco-Aleman, 2017. "Illegal Immigration, State Law, and Deterrence," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 228-252, May.
    6. Stark, Oded & Jakubek, Marcin, 2024. "Employer Sanctions: A Policy with a Pitfall?," EconStor Open Access Book Chapters, in: World Scientific Handbook of Global Migration, Volume 1, pages 205-223, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Arenas-Arroy, Esther, 2017. "Immigrant Fertility in the Midst of Intensified Enforcement," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Tara Watson, 2013. "Enforcement and immigrant location choice," Working Papers 13-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    9. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2009. "The effects of tougher enforcement on the job prospects of recent Latin American immigrants," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 239-257.
    10. Martin Ruhs, 2017. "The Impact of Acquiring EU Status on the Earnings of East European Migrants in the UK: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 716-750, December.
    11. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Arenas-Arroyo, Esther, 2021. "Immigration policy and fertility: Evidence from undocumented migrants in the U.S," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 274-297.
    12. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Arenas-Arroyo, Esther, 2020. "U.S. Immigration Policy and Immigrant Fertility," IZA Discussion Papers 13748, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:86:y:2005:i:s1:p:1279-1298. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.