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Journal article
Racial and ethnic inequities in occupational exposure across and between US cities
SSM - population health, v 16, 100959
Dec 2021
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Research suggests that racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 in the US are largely driven by higher rates of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 among Hispanic/Latino and Black populations. Occupational exposures play a large role in structuring risk of exposure, and essential workers are at elevated risk of COVID-19 infection. At a national-level, workers categorized as “essential” and “high-risk” are disproportionately Hispanic/Latino, but we lack analysis examining local-level racial/ethnic disparities in potential occupational exposures. Using the 2015–2019 5-year American Community Survey, we estimated disparities between the proportion of US Born Hispanic/Latino, foreign-born Hispanic/Latino, and non-Hispanic white (NHW) essential or high-risk workers in 27 of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. We found that, on average, 66.3%, 69.9%, and 62.6% of US-born Hispanics, foreign-born Hispanics, and NHW, respectively, are essential workers, while 50.7%, 49.9%, 49.5% are high exposure risk workers, respectively. The median absolute difference in proportions of US born Hispanic/Latino and NHW essential workers was 4.2%, and between foreign-born Hispanic/Latino and NHW essential workers was 7.5%, but these disparities varied widely by city. High likelihood of occupational transmission may help explain disparities in COVID-19 infection and mortality for Hispanic/Latino populations, especially foreign-born, and may also help explain heterogeneity in the magnitude of these disparities, with relevance for other acute infectious respiratory illnesses spread in the workplace.
•Occupational exposures play a key role in exposure risk for COVID-19.•We find wide disparities in the proportion foreign and US born Hispanic vs non-Hispanic Whites in essential and high exposure risk occupations.•Occupational disparities vary substantially by metropolitan area and may help explain differences in COVID-19 disparities by local area.
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Details
- Title
- Racial and ethnic inequities in occupational exposure across and between US cities
- Creators
- Alina S. Schnake-Mahl - Urban Health Collaborative, Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA.Mariana Lazo - Urban Health Collaborative, Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USAKristina Dureja - Urban Health Collaborative, Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA.Nahian Ehtesham - Urban Health Collaborative, Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA.Usama Bilal - Urban Health Collaborative, Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Publication Details
- SSM - population health, v 16, 100959
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Urban Health Collaborative; Health Management and Policy
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000810897500002
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85119265193
- Other Identifier
- 991019167675204721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health