| Description |
The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate employment status, occupation and health among immigrants in the U.S. The U.S. receives a larger number of immigrants than any other country in the world. Immigrant health and immigrant labor market outcomes are among the significant outcomes of interest that warrant renewed attention and further investigation given the large streams of immigrants into the U.S. and ongoing debates on the supposed burden upon healthcare resources posed by immigrants. By focusing on key features of the migration experience, we are able to advance knowledge on how circumstances in the course of migration and incorporation affect the way immigrants participate in the U.S. labor market and the U.S. healthcare system. Using data from the 2003 New Immigrant Survey (NIS), this study assesses the relationship between employment status, self-rated health and use of health services. It also provides an assessment of the relationship between education-occupation match and self-rated health and the relationship between occupational mobility and use of health services. Having ascertained that relatively healthy immigrants are also more likely to be presently employed than unemployed or out of the labor force, analyses of the NIS further reveal that there is a positive relationship between having a job and using health services among immigrants in the U.S. Compared to immigrants with occupations that match well with their education, immigrants who experience education-occupation mismatch, both in terms of over-education and under-education, are more likely to report negative self-rated health rather than positive self-rated health. Higher occupation status and upward occupational mobility are associated with increased use of health services. These results support the body of literature showing that employment status and health are mutually reinforcing. With regard to the relationship between education-occupation match and self-rated health, the findings suggest that status consistency is protective of health. Higher occupational status and upward occupational mobility are associated with increased use of health services. |
