Do Immigrants Work in Riskier Jobs?* Pia M. Orrenius, Ph.D. Research Department Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and IZA 2200 N. Pearl St. Dallas, TX 75201 (214) 922-5747 [email protected] Madeline Zavodny, Ph.D. (corresponding author) Department of Economics Agnes Scott College and IZA 141 E. College Ave. Decatur, GA 30030 (404) 471-6377 [email protected] * Direct correspondence to Madeline Zavodny, Box 1189, Agnes Scott College, 141 E. College Ave., Decatur, GA 30030 ([email protected]). We thank the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute for Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity, Boalt Law School, University of California, Berkeley, for financial support. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal Reserve System. Madeline Zavodny will provide data and coding information to those wishing to replicate the study.1Do Immigrants Work in Riskier Jobs? Abstract Media and government reports suggest that immigrants hold jobs with worse working conditions than U.S.-born workers, perhaps because immigrants work in jobs that “natives don’t want.” This study investigates whether the foreign-born are more likely to hold jobs with higher industry and occupation injury and fatality rates. We combine individual-level data from the 2003-2005 American Community Survey with Bureau of Labor Statistics data on work-related injuries and fatalities to measure whether immigrants work in more dangerous industries and occupations than natives. The results indicate that immigrants are more likely to work in risky jobs than U.S.-born workers. Differences in average characteristics, such as immigrants’ lower English language ability and educational attainment, contribute to their overrepresentation in risky jobs.2Do Immigrants Work in Riskier Jobs? Stylized facts suggest that the foreign-born are more likely to work in risky jobs than natives.1 For example, immigrants are disproportionately employed in agriculture and construction, sectors with relatively high injury and fatality levels. And within those sectors, immigrants may be in riskier jobs or perform riskier tasks than natives. Anecdotal evidence supports this possibility. For example, 21 of 29 fatal construction accidents in New York City during a recent 12-month period involved workers who were immigrants or had limited English proficiency (Chan, 2006). Studies of immigrants doing reconstruction work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina suggest that large numbers of both documented and undocumented foreign-born workers were exposed to dangerous substances and conditions (Fletcher et al., 2006). Nationally, fatal work injuries among foreign-born Hispanic workers reached a series high in 2005 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006), making this issue a pressing public policy concern. This study therefore examines whether immigrants are indeed more likely than natives to work in risky jobs, as measured by industry and occupation injury and fatality rates, and investigates the causes of any such differences. Background There are several reasons why immigrants might hold riskier jobs than natives. First, immigrants might have different perceptions or knowledge of job risks than natives. Immigrants may perceive work-related risks differently than natives because job conditions in the U.S. may be less risky than those in some developing countries, for example. Immigrants might therefore be more willing than natives to take risky jobs because they do not perceive them as particularly dangerous.3 In addition, lower levels of education, social capital, and English ability may lead to immigrants’ having less information about job risks. Sandy and Elliott (1996) and Bender, Mridha, and Peoples (2006) note that employers may understate workplace risks to workers; this understatement may occur more among employers who hire immigrants, either intentionally or because of communication difficulties with immigrants who speak a different language. About 32% of foreign-born adults (aged 25 and older) in the U.S. do not have a high school diploma or equivalent, compared with 11% of natives (Census Bureau, 2006), and about 83% of immigrants speak a language other than English at home, with 35% of those reporting speaking English not well or not at all (Grieco, 2003). These lower average levels of education and English ability could result in immigrants being less able to understand job risks. Immigrants may also end up in riskier jobs because they lack legal documents. A survey of immigrants in Chicago concluded that undocumented immigrants are more likely than legal immigrants to say that their working conditions are unsafe (Mehta et al., 2002). Previous research also indicates that undocumented immigrants are a complement to natives rather than a substitute, indicating that undocumented immigrants and natives work in different jobs (Bean, Lowell, and Taylor, 1988). Undocumented immigrants are particularly overrepresented in agricultural, cleaning, construction, and food preparation jobs (Passel, 2006), which involve more dangers than typical white-collar jobs. Even if immigrants and natives had similar knowledge about job risks and the same legal status, immigrants might still occupy riskier jobs than natives because of differences in risk preferences or income. Immigrants may be more willing to take risky jobs because they tend to have lower incomes and less wealth than natives. Job amenities, including workplace safety, are usually viewed as a normal good, for which quantity demanded increases with wealth (Viscusi,41978). Because immigrants have less wealth than natives, on average (Cobb-Clark and Hildebrand, 2006), they “buy” lower levels of job amenities. In other words, immigrants may be more willing than natives to trade off higher wages for worse conditions.2 In addition, Berger and Gabriel (1991) point out that immigrants may be less risk averse than natives, as evidenced by the fact that they were willing to take on the risk of migrating to the U.S. The “healthy immigrant effect” also might result in immigrants holding riskier jobs than natives. It is widely documented that upon arrival immigrants tend to be healthier than natives, although this health advantage dissipates over time (Antecol and Bedard, 2006, and references therein). Immigrants therefore might hold more