Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/288408 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal of Population Economics [ISSN:] 1432-1475 [Volume:] 34 [Issue:] 1 [Publisher:] Springer [Place:] Berlin, Heidelberg [Year:] 2020 [Pages:] 167-221
Publisher: 
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
This paper examines the effect of immigration on workplace safety, an understudied outcome in the literature. We use a novel administrative dataset of the universe of workplace accidents reported in Spain from 2003 to 2015 and follow an instrumental variables (IV) strategy based on the distribution of early migrants across provinces. Our results show that the massive inflow of immigrants between 2003 and 2009 reduced the number of workplace accidents by 10,980 for native workers (7% of the overall reduction during that period). This decline in workplace accidents is driven by Spanish-born workers shifting away from manual occupations to occupations involving more interpersonal interactions. Immigrant flows during the economic crisis (2010–2015) had no impact on natives’ workplace safety. The scarcity of jobs during that period may have prevented shifts between occupations. Finally, we find no effects of immigration on the workplace safety of immigrants. These results add a previously unexplored dimension to the immigration debate that should be taken into account when evaluating the costs and benefits of migration flows.
Subjects: 
Immigration
Workplace accidents
Safety at work
JEL: 
J61
J28
I1
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
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Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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