Structural Racism and Immigrant Health: Exploring the Association Between Wage Theft, Mental Health, and Injury among Latino Day Laborers

Background: Although wage theft has been discussed primarily as a labor and human rights issue, it can be conceptualized as an issue of structural racism with important consequences for immigrant health.Objectives: The objectives of this study were to: 1) identify sociodemographic, employment, and stress-related characteris­tics that increase LDLs’ odds of experiencing wage theft; 2) assess the association be­tween wage theft and serious work-related injury; 3) assess the association between wage theft and three indicators of mental health—depression, social isolation, and alcohol use—as a function of wage theft; and 4) assess serious work-related injury as a function of wage theft controlling for mental health.Methods: Secondary data analyses were based on survey data collected from 331 Latino day laborers between November 2013 and July 2014. Regression analyses were conducted to test the relationships described above.Results: Approximately 25% of participants reported experiencing wage theft and 20% reported serious work-related injury. Wage theft was associated with working in construction and was initially associated with work-related injury. Wage theft was not significantly associated with mental health indicators. The association between wage theft and injury became non-significant when controlling for the mental health variables.Conclusions: The hardship and stress associated with wage theft incidents may ultimately lead to more frequent injury. Al­though we expected an association of wage theft with mental health, we found vulner­ability to physical health as indicated by in­jury incidents. Thus, our basic premise was partially supported: wage theft may act as a stressor that stems from conditions, in part, reflecting structural racism, making work­ers vulnerable to poorer health.Ethn Dis.2021;31(Suppl 1):345-356; doi:10.18865/ed.31.S1.345