CF AR 4/97 CWC Occupational Fatalities Among Immigrants Occupational Fatalities Among the Immigrant Population by Janice Windau Compensation and Working Conditions Spring 1997 Immigrants come to the United States for a variety of reasons. Some come to study, but stay after finding work. Others move here to make money to send back home or they come to join friends or family already here. Still others emigrate to escape violence in their native country. But whatever their reason, most come to fulfill dreams of a better life. Unfortunately, some immigrants find these dreams shattered as a result of violence, highway traffic accidents, or other fatal incidents in the workplace. Profile of the foreign-born population in the United States Foreign-born residents are both more educated and less educated than native-born Americans. Although foreign-born persons aged 25 or older are less likely to have graduated from high school, they are also more likely than natives to have a college or even graduate or professional degree.1  As a result, jobs held by the foreign-born vary widely. Some immigrants are in the professional specialties such as medicine, engineering, and teaching. Others work in family run businesses, such as convenience stores and stationery shops. Many initially work as migrant farm laborers or taxi drivers and then move on to construction, poultry processing, or business once they have learned the culture and language.2  Fatal work injuries of the foreign-born Nearly 700 workers born in other countries were killed in the United States during 1994, accounting for a little over one-tenth of all fatally injured workers in the country.3  Although this percentage is consistent with their share of the employed in the United States, foreign-born workers suffered a disproportionate share of the victims of workplace homicide during 1994, comprising about one-fourth of the total. This variance in job-related homicide was even more pronounced for certain occupations. The foreign-born accounted for 42 percent of the sales supervisors and proprietors, 40 percent of the cashiers, and 29 percent of the taxicab drivers who were victims of workplace homicide in 1994. Moreover, 40 percent of the foreign-born worker fatalities resulted from homicide, compared with 16 percent of the fatalities among all U.S. workers. (See table 1.) Highway traffic incidents, which resulted in 20 percent of the fatal work injuries of all workers, accounted for 13 percent of the fatalities among foreign-born workers. Falls accounted for 10 percent of fatal work injuries among both the foreign-born and all U.S. workers. Fatal work injuries among foreign-born workers were less likely to have resulted from being struck by falling objects and from nonhighway transportation incidents such as tractor rollovers than were fatalities among other workers. Worker characteristics Almost one-third of the foreign-born workers killed on the job in 1994 worked in retail trade, such as grocery stores and eating and drinking establishments, compared with one-eighth of the Nation's native-born workers who died on the job that year. (See table 2.) Most of these deaths were the result of being shot during a robbery attempt. Moreover, the foreign-born accounted for almost half of all workers killed in food stores during 1994. By contrast, foreign-born workers who were fatally injured were less likely than their native cohorts to have worked in agricultural production, construction, mining, manufacturing, and public administration. Sales occupations, such as supervisor and proprietor and cashier, accounted for almost one-fourth of the fatal work injuries among the foreign-born. Moreover, the foreign-born comprised about a third of the fatality victims employed in these occupations; a similar portion of taxicab drivers killed while at work were immigrants. (See table 3.) Mexico was the native country of 31 percent of the foreign-born who were fatally injured at work, compared with 28 percent of the foreign-born in the general U.S. population.4  (See chart 1. available in .pdf format only) Workers born in the Dominican Republic, India, and Vietnam also had larger shares of fatal work injuries than their share of the foreign-born population as a whole. By contrast, the Philippines, which is the country of birth for 5 percent of the foreign-born population in 1994, accounted for 2 percent of the foreign-born workers who were fatally injured. Almost half the fatal work injury victims born in other countries were of Hispanic origin, and one-fifth were of Asian descent. (See table 4.) Asians were particularly hard hit by homicide at work, accounting for about one-third of the homicide victims among foreign-born workers and one-tenth of all workplace homicide victims. Foreign-born victims of fatal work injuries were slightly younger and were more likely to be men than other workers fatally injured on the job during the year. The percent of workers who were self-employed or working for the family business was similar between the two groups. State where fatal injury occurred California, which has the largest number of residents born outside the United States, had the largest number of fatal work injuries among the foreign-born in 1994. The foreign born accounted for 28 percent of the fatal work injury victims in California, compared with 24 percent of the resident population. Foreign-born workers in New York and New Jersey also comprised large portions of occupational fatality victims in these States. The following table lists those States with 15 or more foreign-born worker fatalities. State Total work place Foreign-born fatalities fatalities California 639 180 New York 364 113 Texas 497 90 Florida 358 62 New Jersey 114 29 Pennsylvania 354 22 Illinois 247 24 Ohio 209 16 Virginia 164 15 Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, 1994 All worker fatalities Foreign-born worker fatalities Number Percent Number Percent Total 6,632 100 698 100 Assaults and violent acts 1,321 20 297 43 Homicides 1,080 16 277 40 Shooting 934 14 247 35 Suicides 214 3 18 3 Transportation incidents 2,762 42 192 28 Highway 1,343 20 91 13 Nonhighway (farm, industrial) 409 6 16 2 Worker struck by vehicle 391 6 33 5 Aircraft incident 426 6 32 5 Water vehicle incident 94 1 16 2 Falls 665 10 72 10 Falls to lower level 580 9 68 10 Fall from roof 129 2 20 3 Contact with objects and equipment 1,017 15 65 9 Struck by object 590 9 33 5 Struck by falling object 372 6 21 3 Caught in equipment or objects 280 4 25 4 Caught in running equipment 147 2 17 2 Caught in collapsing materials 132 2 6 1 Exposure to harmful substances or environments 641 10 63 9 Contact with electric current 348 5 30 4 Contact with temperature extremes 50 1 7 1 Exposure to caustic, noxious, or allergenic substances 133 2 15 2 Drowning 89 1 9 1 Fires and explosions 202 3 9 1 NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 1994, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, in cooperation with state and federal agencies. --- Endnotes--- 1 Population data are from "The Foreign-Born Population: 1994" by Kristin A. Hansen and Amara Bachu, Current Population Report p.20-486, U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, August 1995. Educational and income levels vary among the foreign-born, particularly among naturalized citizens and noncitizen immigrants, as shown by the table below. Percent distribution of educational attainment for persons 25 and over, 1994 Foreign-born Education U.S. Natural- native Total ized Not a citizen citizen Citizen Total 100 100 100 100 Not high school graduate 17 36 24 43 High school grad/some college 61 41 49 37 Bachelor's degree 15 15 17 13 Graduate or professional degree 7 8 9 7 Naturalized citizens even had a slightly higher median income in 1994 than did U.S. natives, $16,103 compared with $15,876 and $12,179 for the total foreign born. 2 See "Asian-Indian Americans," by Marcia Mogelonsky in American Demographics, August 1995; "African Immigrants Who Aren't Black," by Tibbett Speer, American Demographics, January 1994; and "Migrant Labor: A World Apart, Following the Sun," by Pamela Stallsmith in the Richmond Times Dispatch, November 10, 1996 for additional discussion of immigrants. 3 Data on fatal work injuries are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 1994. This program, which has collected occupational fatality data nationwide since 1992, uses diverse data sources to identify, verify, and profile fatal work injuries. Information about each workplace fatality (occupation and other worker characteristics, equipment being used, and circumstances of the event) is obtained by cross-referencing source documents, such as death certificates, workers’ compensation records, and reports to Federal and State agencies. This method assures counts are as complete and accurate as possible. For more information on the CFOI program, access the World Wide Web at (stats.bls.gov/oshfat1.htm) or e-mail (cfoistaff@bls.gov). 4 Differences may merely result from the use of population rather than employment data. The foreign-born population includes some persons not subject to fatal work injuries, such as those in the labor force but not employed as well as persons not in the labor force, such as young children and retired persons. The foreign-born population in this brief may include some undocumented immigrants, refugees, and temporary residents, such as students and temporary workers, as well as legally admitted immigrants. Besides these groups, fatality counts may include foreign-born natives because information on citizenship of parents is not available in the CFOI program. Fatality counts may also include nonresidents, such as workers in the United States temporarily on a business trip. Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by industry, 1994 Industry SIC All workers Foreign-born workers code(1) Number Percent Number Percent Total 6,632 100 698 100 Private industry 5,959 90 670 96 Agriculture, forestry and fishing 852 13 68 10 Agricultural production - crops 01 443 7 28 4 Agricultural production - livestock 02 172 3 11 2 Agricultural services 07 163 2 20 3 Mining 180 3 7 1 Construction 1,028 16 91 13 General building contractors 15 190 3 19 3 Heavy construction, except building 16 246 4 14 2 Special trades contractors 17 592 9 58 8 Manufacturing 789 12 54 8 Transportation and public utilities 949 14 108 15 Local and interurban passenger transportation 41 114 2 32 5 Taxicabs 4121 102 2 31 4 Trucking and warehousing 42 505 8 38 5 Water transportation 44 48 1 12 2 Transportation by air 45 99 1 11 2 Wholesale trade 271 4 23 3 Retail trade 808 12 215 31 Food stores 54 237 4 107 15 Automotive dealers and service stations 55 123 2 12 2 Eating and drinking places 58 184 3 38 5 Finance, insurance, and real estate 113 2 7 1 Services 853 13 84 12 Business services 73 255 4 21 3 Automotive repair, services, and parking 75 91 1 13 2 Government 673 10 28 4 Federal (including resident armed forces) 211 3 7 1 State 114 2 5 1 Local. 338 5 14 2 1 Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1987 Edition. 2 Includes fatalities to workers employed by governmental organizations regardless of industry. NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 1994, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, in cooperation with state and federal agencies. Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries of foreign-born workers by occupation, 1994 Occupation Number Percent Total 698 100 Managerial and professional specialty 68 10 Executive, administrative, and managerial 47 7 Managers, food serving, lodging 14 2 Professional specialty 21 3 Technical, sales, and administrative support 185 27 Airplane pilots 12 2 Sales occupations 163 23 Supervisors and proprietors 79 11 Sales workers, retail and personal service 81 12 Cashier 47 7 Service occupations 62 9 Protective service 19 3 Cleaning and building service 13 2 Personal service 12 2 Farming, forestry, and fishing 73 10 Farm workers 40 6 Groundskeepers, gardeneners 17 2 Precision production, craft, repair 84 12 Mechanics and repairers 26 3 Construction trades 52 7 Operators, fabricators, laborers 215 31 Machine operators 19 3 Transportation and material moving 104 15 Motor vehicle operators 86 12 Truck drivers 50 7 Taxicab drivers, chauffeurs 33 5 Water transportation occupations 11 2 Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, laborers 92 13 Construction laborers 36 5 Laborers, excluding construction 35 5 Military 5 1 Other or unspecified 6 1 NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 1994, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, in cooperation with state and federal agencies. Table 4. Fatal occupational injuries by selected worker characteristics, 1994 All worker Foreign-born Foreign-born population Characteristics fatalities workers fatalities (in thousands) Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Total 6,632 100 698 100 22,568 100 Wage and salary workers 5,370 81 562 81 - - Self-employed 1,262 19 136 19 - - Less than 25 726 11 91 13 5,124 23 25-34 1,567 24 210 30 5,269 23 35-44 1,619 24 193 28 4,522 20 45-64 2,176 33 183 26 5,014 22 65 and over 525 8 21 3 2,640 12 Men 6,104 92 658 94 11,132 49 Women 528 8 40 6 11,436 51 White 5,460 82 410 59 15,428 68 Black 707 11 69 10 1,596 7 Asian or Pacific Islander 183 3 142 20 4,630 21 Other or unspecified 282 4 77 11 - - Hispanic 624 9 336 48 10,270 46 - Dash indicates data not available. NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 1994, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, in cooperation with state and federal agencies.