The Impact of Temporary Protected Status on Immigrants' Labor Market Outcomes

The Impact of temporary protected status on immigrants' labor market outcomes seeks to measure the labor market effects of granting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to foreign-born residents of the U.S.

There are currently about 300,000 foreigners in the U.S. with TPS, which provides a reprieve from deportation and authorization to work in the U.S for the duration of a major crisis in their home country. Orrienius and Zavodny see the TPS program as a possible predictor of what might happen with the deferred action programs of the Obama Administration. As the largest group of current TPS holders are Salvadoran the authors examine the labor market outcomes of two cohorts of Salvadorans. They include ones who arrived just prior to the earthquake (eligible for TPS), and ones who arrived just after (ineligible and presumably largely undocumented). Men eligible for TPS earn about 13 percent more than those who are not, even if their unemployment rate is somewhat higher. TPS also drives up the labor force participation rate for lesser-educated Salvadoran women by about 17 percentage points. The authors suggest that the 2001 TPS for Salvadoran migrants is a potential indicator of how a legalization program that is temporary and does not create a pathway to U.S. citizenship would affect beneficiaries. (Abstract courtesy of Dr. Nicholas V. Montalto)

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