Abstract
I analyze how allowing undocumented immigrants to legally obtain driver’s licenses shifts commuting patterns, increases job accessibility, and improves labor market outcomes. Using state- and nativity-level variation in reforms, I show that granting driving privileges to the undocumented increases vehicle ownership and the probability of car commute by 3 percentage points. This improvement in accessibility leads to a 1 percentage point increase in the employment rate. The employment effects are larger in low-accessibility localities, which are more rural and entail longer commuting times. Undocumented immigrants exhibit stronger positive employment effects in more vehicle-dependent occupations. These findings highlight the quantitative importance of transportation barriers in determining the labor market outcomes of minority workers.
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