Assessing the Effect of E-Verify Mandates on Employment

Jose Pacas, University of Minnesota

Using CPS monthly data from January 1994 through March 2014, I use a state level difference-in-difference approach to estimate the effect of E-Verify mandates on employment. I find that E-Verify mandates that require all employers in a state to use E-Verify have a large negative and statistically significant effect on employment of unauthorized workers (about -10 to -6 percent). These results are robust to various specifications. Two important extensions to this work will be included: 1) Data up to August 2014 will be included and 2) a new imputation strategy (by Warren and Warren, forthcoming) for identifying likely unauthorized workers will be implemented.