In this paper, we study the impact of the law 1429 of December 2010 on both employment and labor formalization of young workers in Colombia.To asset the policy impact, we use an econometric model of differences in differences considering the first and the last quarter of the periods before and after the law was applied.Results suggest different effects of the law on young socio-demographic groups both in the short and in the long run.In the short run, the law increased the probability of finding a job but also the probability of being an informal worker.Several months later, both the probability of finding a job and the probability of being informal decreased.The most educated young workers, however, faced lower probabilities of employment in the quarter after the law and higher levels of informality one year later.