A Comparison of Nonfatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Among Hispanic Versus Non-Hispanic Workers in the United States

Abstract

This article investigates the trends and changes in patterns of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses among Hispanic workers versus non-Hispanic minority workers in the United States between 1992 and 2009. Injuries and illnesses are also examined by the severity of cases and across industry sectors. The differences in the mean share of nonfatal injury and illness cases found between Hispanic and non-Hispanic minority workers in the top three industries are tested to determine if they are statistically different. The hypothesis that Hispanic workers experience a relatively higher incidence of injuries and illnesses because of the growing share of Hispanics in the U.S. labor force and relatively lower educational attainment level is established through a vector autoregressive (VAR) framework. These findings suggest greater need for safety efforts with Hispanic workers in industries demonstrating high rates of injuries and illnesses, such as education and training that addresses safety behavior, work conditions, and language and cultural barriers.