Work, Risk and Health: Differences between Immigrants and Natives in Spain

Meritxell Solé, Luis Diaz-Serrano () and Marisol Rodriguez Martinez ()
Additional contact information
Meritxell Solé: CREB, Barcelona
Marisol Rodriguez Martinez: University of Barcelona

No 5338, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We analyze the impact of working and contractual conditions, particularly exposure to job risks, on the probability of acquiring a disability. We postulate a model in which this impact is mediated by the choice of occupation, with a level of risk associated to it. We assume this choice is endogenous, and that it depends on preferences and opportunities in the labour market, both of which may differ between immigrants and natives. To test this hypothesis we use data from the Continuous Sample of Working Lives of the Spanish SS system. It contains individual, job and firm information of over a million workers, including a representative sample of immigrants. We find that risk exposure increases the probability of permanent disability by 5.3%; temporary employment also influences health. Migrant status – with differences among regions of origin – significantly affects both disability and the probability of being employed in a risky occupation. Most groups of immigrants work in riskier jobs, but have lower probability of becoming disabled. Nevertheless, our theoretical hypothesis that disability and risk are jointly determined is not valid for immigrants: i.e. for them working conditions is not a matter of choice in terms of health.

Keywords: MCVL; disability; working conditions; Spain; immigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J28 J61 J81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2010-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-lab and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published - published as 'Disparities in Work, Risk, and Health between Immigrants and Native-Born' in: Social Science and Medicine, 179-187

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp5338.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5338

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().