Racial Inequality and Occupational Health in the United States: The Effect on White Workers

Abstract

While a number of studies have shown that black workers in the United States face higher levels of occupation-related hazards to health and safety than do whites, even controlling for differences in education and experience, little attention has been paid to the implications of racial inequality for the overall level of hazard in the economy. Alternative theories of the causes of occupational diseases and injuries imply that greater inequality helps white workers, by assigning them to the safer jobs, or on the contrary hurts white workers, by weakening the unity and bargaining power of the workforce as a whole. This article analyzes the impact of racial inequality on the level of hazard reported by white workers. Consistent with the institutional and Marxian theories of the labor market, the statistical findings indicate that white workers employed in occupations and industries containing greater numbers of blacks report greater exposure to hazard than comparable white workers in occupations and industries employing fewer blacks.