This paper examines the eect of a federally-mandated public sector employment quota policy for minorities on their occupational choice. We utilize multiple logit models to esti- mate the eect of the policy on the choice between a high, middle, or low-skill public sector occupation during the 1980s and 1990s. The main ndings are, rst, the policy has a signi- cant eect on the choice of occupation for both groups. The policy increases the probability of the scheduled caste group choosing high-skill occupations and decreases the probability of choosing middle-skill occupations. In contrast, the policy decreases the probability of the scheduled tribe group choosing high-skill occupations and increases their probability of choosing low-skill occupations. Second, the in uence of the policy is interrelated with an individual's years of schooling. Third, we nd evidence of employment quota externalities in that a policy targeted at one group aects the occupational choice of the other group. Over- all, the results suggest that federally-mandated employment quotas do change occupational choice for the target disadvantaged groups and contribute to their improved socio-economic standing.