Racial and Ethnic Differences in Lifetime Work Environment Exposures and Early Disability Retirement

Amanda Sonnega, Qize Chen, Dawn Carr, Qiuchang Cao and Rebekah Carpenter
Additional contact information
Amanda Sonnega: University of Michigan
Qize Chen: University of Michigan
Dawn Carr: Florida State University
Qiuchang Cao: Florida State University
Rebekah Carpenter: Florida State University

Working Papers from University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center

Abstract: A large research literature attests to the important role of work in human health. Less research has investigated the potential role of work environments as a key factor shaping racial and ethnic health disparities. Work environments that are physically demanding, stressful, and hazardous are typically associated with earlier onset of physical health decline that may be associated with increased risk of early retirement due to disability. No research to date, however, has examined how differential exposure to work environments are associated with early disability retirement among Black, Hispanic, whites individuals. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study Life History Mail survey linked to information on work environments from the Occupational Information Network to characterize potentially harmful lifetime work contexts. We find that a wide range of harmful work environments are associated with early disability retirement, at or before age 62. Black workers are more likely than white workers to retire due to disability and are exposed to higher average levels of hazardous work environments over their careers. Lifetime average occupational exposures account for some of the association between race and early disability retirement. Findings related to ethnicity were inconclusive. Eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in disability may hinge in part on understanding the role of potentially modifiable aspects of the work environment.

Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2023-11
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://mrdrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/papers/pdf/wp482.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

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:mrr:papers:wp482

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center P.O. Box 1248, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MRRC Administrator ().