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The Occupational Cost of Being Illegal in the United States: Legal Status, Job Hazards, and Compensating Differentials

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  • Matthew Hall
  • Emily Greenman

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="imre12090-abs-0001"> Considerable research and pervasive cultural narratives suggest that undocumented immigrant workers are concentrated in the most dangerous, hazardous, and otherwise unappealing jobs in U.S. labor markets. Yet, owing largely to data limitations, little empirical work has addressed this topic. Using data from the 2004 and 2008 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we impute legal status for Mexican and Central American immigrants and link their occupations to Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) data on occupational fatalities and occupational hazard data from the U.S. Department of Labor to explore racial and legal status differentials on several specific measures of occupational risk. Results indicate that undocumented workers face heightened exposure to numerous dimensions of occupational hazard – including higher levels of physical strain, exposure to heights, and repetitive motions – but are less exposed than native workers to some of the potentially most dangerous environments. We also show that undocumented workers are rewarded less for employment in hazardous settings, receiving low or no compensating differential for working in jobs with high fatality, toxic materials, or exposure to heights. Overall, this study suggests that legal status plays an important role in determining exposure to job hazard and in structuring the wage returns to risky work.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Hall & Emily Greenman, 2015. "The Occupational Cost of Being Illegal in the United States: Legal Status, Job Hazards, and Compensating Differentials," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 406-442, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:intmig:v:49:y:2015:i:2:p:406-442
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/imre.2015.49.issue-2
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Claire E. Altman & Colleen M. Heflin & Chaegyung Jun & James D. Bachmeier, 2021. "Material Hardship Among Immigrants in the United States: Variation by Citizenship, Legal Status, and Origin in the 1996–2008 SIPP," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(3), pages 363-399, June.
    2. Ortega, Francesc & Hsin, Amy, 2018. "Occupational Barriers and the Labor Market Penalty from Lack of Legal Status," IZA Discussion Papers 11680, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Anne R Pebley & Noreen Goldman & Theresa Andrasfay & Boriana Pratt, 2021. "Trajectories of physical functioning among older adults in the US by race, ethnicity and nativity: Examining the role of working conditions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, March.
    4. Ortega Francesc & Edwards Ryan & Hsin Amy, 2018. "The Economic Effects of Providing Legal Status to DREAMers," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, June.
    5. Nelly Elmallakh & Jackline Wahba, 2022. "Return migrants and the wage premium: does the legal status of migrants matter?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1631-1685, October.
    6. Erin R. Hamilton & Jo Mhairi Hale & Robin Savinar, 2019. "Immigrant Legal Status and Health: Legal Status Disparities in Chronic Conditions and Musculoskeletal Pain Among Mexican-Born Farm Workers in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 1-24, February.
    7. Annie Ro & Jennifer Van Hook, 2021. "Comparing immigration status and health patterns between Latinos and Asians: Evidence from the Survey of Income and Program Participation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(2), pages 1-15, February.
    8. Erin R. Hamilton & Jo Mhairi Hale, 2016. "Changes in the Transnational Family Structures of Mexican Farm Workers in the Era of Border Militarization," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1429-1451, October.
    9. Ortega, Francesc & Hsin, Amy, 2022. "Occupational barriers and the productivity penalty from lack of legal status," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Altangerel, Khulan, 2019. "Essays on immigration policy," Other publications TiSEM 954c6300-249e-496c-8cef-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Oscar Rikhotso & Thabiso John Morodi & Daniel Masilu Masekameni, 2022. "Occupational Health and Safety Statistics as an Indicator of Worker Physical Health in South African Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-21, February.
    12. Claudia Soto Saavedra & Jane Lilly Lopez & Stacey A. Shaw & Benjamin G. Gibbs, 2023. "“It Happened When I Was Connecting to the Community…”: Multiple Pathways to Migrant (Non)Belonging in a New Destination Setting," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-21, January.
    13. Zai Liang & Bo Zhou, 2016. "The Effects of Legal Status on Employment and Health Outcomes among Low-Skilled Chinese Immigrants in New York City," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 666(1), pages 150-163, July.
    14. Chad Sparber & Madeline Zavodny, 2022. "Immigration, Working Conditions, and Compensating Differentials," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 75(4), pages 1054-1081, August.
    15. Matthew Hall & Kelly Musick & Youngmin Yi, 2019. "Living Arrangements and Household Complexity among Undocumented Immigrants," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(1), pages 81-101, March.

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