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Health, Employment, and Disability: Implications from the Undocumented Population

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  • George J. Borjas
  • David J.G. Slusky

Abstract

The number of disability beneficiaries doubled in the past two decades. It is difficult to determine how much is explained by changes in health, as we lack a counterfactual. We use undocumented immigrants to form the counterfactual, as they cannot claim benefits. Using NHIS data, we show that the relationship between health and disability is stronger for the legal population than for the undocumented. Much of the difference in disability rates between the populations is due to different labor supply responses to underlying health impairments and demographic differences, rather than to differences in the impairments or demographic variables themselves.

Suggested Citation

  • George J. Borjas & David J.G. Slusky, 2018. "Health, Employment, and Disability: Implications from the Undocumented Population," NBER Working Papers 24504, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24504
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    Cited by:

    1. Furtado, Delia & Papps, Kerry L. & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos, 2022. "Who Goes on Disability when Times are Tough? The Role of Work Norms among Immigrants," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    2. Ruhnke, Simon A. & Reynolds, Megan M. & Wilson, Fernando A. & Stimpson, Jim P., 2022. "A healthy migrant effect? Estimating health outcomes of the undocumented immigrant population in the United States using machine learning," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    3. Octave De Brouwer & Elisabeth Leduc & Ilan Tojerow, 2019. "The Unexpected Consequences of Job Search Monitoring: Disability Instead of Employment ?," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/340666, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Furtado, Delia & Papps, Kerry L. & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos, 2019. "Who Goes on Disability When Times Are Tough? The Role of Social Costs of Take-Up Among Immigrants," IZA Discussion Papers 12097, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Cody Spence & James D. Bachmeier & Claire E. Altman & Christal Hamilton, 2020. "The Association Between Legal Status and Poverty Among Immigrants: A Methodological Caution," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2327-2335, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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