Beyond Occupational Hazards: Risk, Abuse, and the Health of Day Laborers

Alein Haro, University of California, Berkeley
Randall Kuhn , University of California, Los Angeles
Michael Rodriguez, University of California, Los Angeles
Abel Valenzuela, University of California, Los Angeles

This paper examines the association between occupational risk factors and high-risk environments with the health of day laborers. We use a nationally representative sample of 2,015 day laborers from the National Day Labor Survey. Stepwise logistic regression models were used to investigate the association of occupational and socioenvironmental abuses with self-rated health (SRH), PHQ-2, morbidities, and workplace injuries. We find that experiencing crime, business owner abuse, employer abuse, and having a dangerous job are associated with workplace injuries; employer abuse is associated with morbidities; business owner abuse, employer abuse, and having a dangerous job are associated with a positive PHQ-2 depression screening; and employer abuse is associated with fair/poor SRH. Health disadvantages among our sample stem not merely from unsafe occupational conditions, but from an overlapping array of adverse experiences associated with economic vulnerability, performing dangerous work under exploitative conditions, and seeking work in harsh social environments.

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 Presented in Session 168. Immigrant Integration and Incorporation