Racial Disparities in the Economic Outcomes of Work-Related Disabilities

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boden LI ; Seabury, Seth A. ; Terp S
• Description:
  There has been considerable public effort to identify, understand and eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health and economic opportunities in the United States. There is a significant body of work demonstrating the presence of disparities in population health across different subsets of the population, with racial and ethnic minorities subject to significantly higher morbidity and mortality from chronic disease on average. In addition to disparities in health, there is also widespread evidence documenting disparities in economic opportunity, with racial and ethnic minorities consistently earning lower pay for comparable work. However, despite these prior efforts, there has been comparatively little effort to understand how different sections of the population are affected by accidents in the workplace. Work-related injuries and disabilities impose large costs on society, and often have significant and lasting impacts on labor market outcomes for injured workers. Past studies have considered how the frequency and severity of occupational injuries differs across different racial and ethnic groups, but with relatively few definitive conclusions. In particular, it is largely unknown how the economic outcomes of injuries differ according to race. Conceptually, this is a difficult question to answer. On the one hand, the fact that most minorities have fewer employment opportunities means that they are less likely to work and thus face less exposure to workplace injury risk. However, when they do work they tend to work in riskier jobs, increasing their potential risk. Moreover, the effect of injuries on economic outcomes is complicated by their baseline disparities in employment and health, requiring careful empirical work to disentangle. Our study has developed new evidence about racial and ethnic disparities in the frequency and impact of work-related injury and disability. We used national data from several sources to examine differences in the frequency of work-related injuries between different racial and ethnic groups. We found that non-Hispanic black workers and foreign-born Hispanic workers experienced the highest injury risk, on average. These differences persisted even after adjustment for average differences in individual characteristics such as age, education and gender. Because they tend to work in riskier jobs, we also found that non-Hispanic black and foreign-born Hispanic workers were most likely to have a disability that resulted from a work-related injury. Differences in the occupation mix between racial and ethnic groups was among the biggest factor explaining differences in the prevalence of work-related injuries. These findings suggest that disparities in economic opportunities result in minority groups facing increased risk of workplace injury, and that this higher risk can have lifelong economic implications by resulting in higher prevalence of disability. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Demography Economics Healthcare Disparities Minority Health Morbidity Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Race Factors Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Demographic Characteristics Disabled Workers Economic Consequences Health Disparities Injuries Minority Health Morbidity Rates Occupational Accidents Racial Factors Risk Factors
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-13
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20052934
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2019-100116
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R21-OH-010442, 2017 Sep; :1-13
• Contact Point Address:
  Rosemarie Gonzales, Univ. of So. Calif., Dept. of Contracts & Grants, 1640 Marengo St., Suite 701, MC 9263, Los Angeles, CA 90033-9263
• Email:
  rosemarie.gonzales@usc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  University of Southern California, Los Angeles
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20140901
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20170531
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8709720507df2348f473f90e767d76dcf4b78f116dbedd5f3523f40a10f2db7b8f8f8ba01d5436c0e2cc7cd1963fd5cb38cb566fe1c9a6d6a14d9079aa5f3f87
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218731/cdc_218731_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 161.47 KB ]