Occupational Health Status of Unauthorized Immigrant Farm Laborers

The share of foreign-born workers in the U.S. labor force has increased substantially in recent years. A substantial portion of immigrant workers lack authorization for U.S. employment. There are two cross-sectional, occupation-based surveys that have reported findings pertaining to the immigration status of workers: the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) and the California Agricultural Workers Health Survey (CAWHS). This likely reflects the fact that Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing is the industry sector with largest share of its labor force comprised of immigrant workers. Agriculture, in particular, has become more dependent on foreign-born workers in recent years. The NAWS finds a majority of U.S. crop farm workers lack authorization for employment. The CAWHS, a statewide cross-sectional survey of 970 hired farm workers conducted during 1999 included findings regarding occupational health, some of which were recently published, but has not yet reported findings associated with the immigration status of foreign-born workers (Villarejo D & McCurdy SA, J Agric Safe Health, 2008, 14(2):135-146). This paper presents CAWHS findings from a newly developed analysis of associations between immigration status and occupational health: lack of knowledge of the state's mandated workers compensation insurance; lack of the required workers compensation insurance medical care payment for workers who required a medical visit as a result of an on-the-job injury; dependence on for-profit raiteros for transportation to places of employment; lack of training in pesticide safety; and sharing a place of residence with only unrelated persons.