Giving migrants temporary legal status can help them into work and increase their earnings.

Last year, President Obama used an executive action to delay deportation and grant work permits for unauthorized immigrant parents, an action which has subsequently been halted by the courts. In new research, Pia M. Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny examine the effects that this type of temporary relief has on the migrant labor market. By studying the labor market outcomes of Salvadoran migrants, they find that granting temporary legal status leads to higher earnings among men and a higher employment rate among women.