Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/315965 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 25-414
Publisher: 
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, MI
Abstract: 
I study how access to foreign-born workers impacts firms and local economics in times of acute crisis. The 2020 H-2B visa lottery randomly gave some U.S. firms the chance to hire low-wage, migrant workers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using administrative data across three government agencies, I find that access to H-2B workers led to decreased business closures, increased revenues, increased payroll, and increased employment in 2020. I also find suggestive evidence that these effects spilled over to non-participant firms within the same county.
Subjects: 
migrant workers
H-2B visa
COVID-19 pandemic
firm dynamics
JEL: 
J23
F22
J61
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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