Abstract
Public debates about both immigration policy and social safety net programs are increasingly contentious. However, little research has explored differences in health within America’s diverse population of foreign-born workers, and the effect of these workers on public benefit programs is not well understood. We investigate differences in work disability by nativity and origins and describe the mix of health problems associated with receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. Our analysis draws on two large national data sources—the American Community Survey and comprehensive administrative records from the Social Security Administration—to determine the prevalence and incidence of work disability between 2001 and 2010. In sharp contrast to prior research, we find that foreign-born adults are substantially less likely than native-born Americans to report work disability, to be insured for work disability benefits, and to apply for those benefits. Overall and across origins, the foreign-born also have a lower incidence of disability benefit award. Persons from Africa, Northern Europe, Canada, and parts of Asia have the lowest work disability benefit prevalence rates among the foreign-born; persons from Southern Europe, Western Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the Caribbean have the highest rates.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Notes
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is an earned benefit program for workers. It is distinct from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, which pays benefits to individuals of very limited income and assets who are disabled, blind, or aged 65 and older. Unlike their SSDI counterparts, SSI benefits are not tied to a person’s work record. Our analysis focuses solely on eligibility and receipt of SSDI benefits.
This mistake was made particularly often in the nonresponse follow-up, done by phone or in person. Many of the persons in the follow-up who responded affirmatively to the work disability question also reported that they were working, which led the bureau to realize that the disability question was being misunderstood (Stern 2003).
The SSDI program operates in the territories, and thus the majority of persons in the SSA database who were born in the territories still reside in the territories. On the other hand, persons born in the territories are included in the ACS only if they currently reside in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia.
Details on program eligibility can be found at the Social Security Administration website (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/credits.html#&a0=2).
The 1996 Welfare Reform Act affected the eligibility of foreign-born individuals for many public assistance programs but not the SSDI program. Although the act barred illegal aliens from receiving SSDI benefits, the same individuals were also not eligible to obtain a SSN for work and thus would not be included in the data sets used in this analysis unless they obtained or used a number fraudulently.
See the 2015 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds, available online (https://www.ssa.gov/oact/tr/2015/tr2015.pdf).
We use the term “ratio,” rather than “rate,” because technical denials include people who lack a qualifying work history and are thus not a true subset of the insured population.
Our population total rates are consistent with the annual rates reported by the SSA (https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/di_asr/2011/sect04.html).
Totalization agreements are international social security treaties between the United States and other countries that eliminate dual Social Security taxation and provide benefit protection for workers who have divided their careers between the United States and another country. The United States has totalization agreements with Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (42 U.S.C. § 433).
Sensitivity analyses exploring alternative specifications of the age variable showed little to no effect on the origin coefficients or their statistical significance, although under one specification, the odds ratio for men born in the former Soviet Union increased from 1.10 to 1.14 and became statistically significant (results available upon request).
The decade of arrival may have historical significance in addition to being a marker for the duration of time immigrants have spent in the United States, but the two effects cannot be disentangled.
The ACS sample includes all working-age adults, while the SSA sample is limited to those who are disability insured.
These data are available on the SSA website (https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/di_asr/2011/sect04.html).
References
Akresh, I. R., & Frank, R. (2008). Health selection among new immigrants. American Journal of Public Health, 98, 2058–2064.
Antecol, H., & Bedard, K. (2006). Unhealthy assimilation: Why do immigrants converge to American health status levels? Demography, 43, 337–360.
Arenas, E., Goldman, N., Pebley, A. R., & Teruel, G. (2015). Return migration to Mexico: Does health matter? Demography, 52(6), 1853–1868.
Banks, J., Kapteyn, A., Smith, J. P., & van Soest, A. (2009). Work disability is a pain in the ****, especially in England, the Netherlands, and the United States. In D. Cutler & D. Wise (Eds.), Health at older ages: The causes and consequences of declining disability among the elderly (pp. 251–294). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Blomstedt, Y., Johansson, S., & Sundquist, J. (2007). Mental health of immigrants from the former Soviet bloc: A future problem for primary health care in the enlarged European Union? A cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 7(27), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-7-27
Blue, L., & Fenelon, A. (2011). Explaining low mortality among US immigrants relative to native-born Americans: The role of smoking. International Journal of Epidemiology, 40, 786–793.
Borjas, G. J. (1999). Immigration and welfare magnets. Journal of Labor Economics, 17, 607–637.
Borjas, G. J. (2011). Heaven’s door: Immigration policy and the American economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Brault, M. (2009). Review of changes to the measurement of disability in the 2008 American Community Survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/people/disability/files/2008ACS_disability.pdf
Burkhauser, R. V., & Daly, M. C. (2012). Social Security Disability Insurance: Time for fundamental change. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 31, 454–461.
Card, D. (2001). Immigrant inflows, native outflows, and the local labor market impacts of higher immigration. Journal of Labor Economics, 19 , 22–64.
Card, D. (2005). Is the new immigration really so bad? Economic Journal, 115, F300–F323.
Cho, Y., Frisbie, W. P., Hummer, R. A., & Rogers, R. G. (2004). Nativity, duration of residence, and the health of Hispanic adults in the United States. International Migration Review, 38, 184–211.
Cho, Y., & Hummer, R. A. (2001). Disability status differentials across fifteen Asian and Pacific Islander groups and the effect of nativity and duration of residence in the U.S. Social Biology, 48, 171–195.
Cunningham, S. A., Ruben, J. D., & Narayan, K. V. (2008). Health of foreign-born people in the United States: A review. Health & Place, 14, 623–635.
Elo, I. T., Mehta, N. K., & Huang, C. (2011). Disability among native-born and foreign-born blacks in the United States. Demography, 48, 241–265.
Feliciano, C. (2005). Educational selectivity in U.S. immigration: How do immigrants compare to those left behind? Demography, 42, 131–152.
Frisbie, W. P., Cho, Y., & Hummer, R. A. (2001). Immigration and the health of Asian and Pacific Islander adults in the United States. American Journal of Epidemiology, 153, 372–380.
Fussell, E. (2014). Warmth of the welcome: Attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy in the United States. Annual Review of Sociology, 40, 479–498.
Grieco, E. M., Acosta, Y. D., de la Cruz, G. P., Gambino, C., Gryn, T., Larsen, L. J., . . . Walters, N. P. (2012). The foreign-born population in the United States: 2010 (American Community Survey Reports No. ACS-19). Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acs-19.pdf
Gubernskaya, Z. (2015). Age at migration and self-rated health trajectories after age 50: Understanding the older immigrant health paradox. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 70, 279–290.
Hamilton, T. G., & Hummer, R. A. (2011). Immigration and health of U.S. black adults: Does country of origin matter? Social Science & Medicine, 73, 1551–1560.
Hirschman, C. (2005). Immigration and the American century. Demography, 42, 595–620.
Houtenville, A. J., Erickson, W., & Bjelland, M. (2009). Complex survey questions and the impact of enumeration procedures: Census/American Community Survey disability questions (Center for Economic Studies Paper No. CES-WP-09-10). Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.
Huang, C., Mehta, N. K., Elo, I. T., Cunningham, S. A., Stephenson, R., Williamson, D. F., & Narayan, K. V. (2011). Region of birth and disability among recent U.S. immigrants: Evidence from the 2000 census. Population Research and Policy Review, 30, 399–418.
Hummer, R. A., & Hayward, M. D. (2015). Hispanic older adult health & longevity in the United States: Current patterns & concerns for the future. Daedalus, 144(2), 20–30.
Jette, A. M., & Badley, E. (2000). Conceptual issues in the measurement of work disability. In N. Mathiowetz & G. S. Wunderlich (Eds.), Survey measurement of work disability: Summary of a workshop (pp. 4–27). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Lee, R. D., & Miller, T. W. (1998). The current fiscal impact of immigrants and their descendants: Beyond the immigrant household. In J. Smith & B. Edmonston (Eds.), The immigration debate: Studies on the economic, demographic, and fiscal impacts of immigration (pp. 183–205). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Logan, B. I., & Thomas, K. J. A. (2012). The U.S. diversity visa programme and the transfer of skills from Africa. International Migration, 50(2), 1–19.
Longhi, S., Nijkamp, P., & Poot, J. (2010). Joint impacts of immigration on wages and employment: Review and meta-analysis. Journal of Geographical Systems, 12, 355–387.
Markides, K. S., & Rote, S. (2015). Immigrant health paradox. In R. A. Scott & M. C. Buchmann (Eds.), Emerging trends in the social and behavioral sciences: An interdisciplinary, searchable, and linkable resource. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0174
Massey, D. S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., & Taylor, J. E. (1994). An evaluation of international migration theory: The North American case. Population and Development Review, 20, 699–751.
Massey, D. S., & Pren, K. A. (2012). Unintended consequences of US immigration policy: Explaining the post-1965 surge from Latin America. Population and Development Review, 38, 1–29.
McKee, M., & Shkolnikov, V. (2001). Understanding the toll of premature death among men in eastern Europe. BMJ, 323, 1051–1055.
Mehta, N. K., & Elo, I. T. (2012). Migrant selection and the health of U.S. immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Demography, 49, 425–447.
Mehta, N. K., Elo, I. T., Engelman, M., Lauderdale, D. S., & Kestenbaum, B. M. (2016). Life expectancy among U.S.-born and foreign-born older adults in the United States: Estimates from linked Social Security and Medicare data. Demography, 53, 1109–1134.
Meseguer, J. (2013). Outcome variation in the Social Security Disability Insurance program: The role of primary diagnoses. Social Security Bulletin, 73(2), 39–75.
Meyers, D. W. (2006). Temporary worker programs: A patchwork policy response (Insight Policy Brief No. 12). Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
Mosisa, A. T. (2013). Foreign-born workers in the U.S. labor force (Spotlight on Statistics July 2013 Report). Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved from www.bls.gov/spotlight/2013/foreign-born/pdf/foreign born.pdf
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2015). The integration of immigrants into American society. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Ottaviano, G. I., & Peri, G. (2012). Rethinking the effect of immigration on wages. Journal of the European Economic Association, 10, 152–197.
Parrott, T. M., Kennedy, L. D., & Scott, C. G. (1998). Noncitizens and the Supplemental Security Income program. Social Security Bulletin, 61(4), 3–31.
Passel, J. S., Zimmerman, W., & Fix, M. E. (1996). The use of SSI and other welfare programs by immigrants: Testimony on immigrants before the House Committee on Ways and Means (Elevate the Debate report). New York, NY: Urban Institute.
Peri, G. (2012). The effect of immigration on productivity: Evidence from U.S. states. Review of Economics and Statistics, 94, 348–358.
Reno, V. P., & Ekman, L. D. (2012a). Social Security Disability Insurance: Essential protection when work incapacity strikes. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 31, 461–469.
Reno, V. P., & Ekman, L. D. (2012b). Disability insurance is part of the solution, not a cause of work disability: Response to Burkhauser and Daly. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 31, 471–474.
Rupp, K. (2012). Factors affecting initial disability allowance rates for the Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs: The role of the demographic and diagnostic composition of applicants and local labor market conditions. Social Security Bulletin, 72(4), 11–35.
Singh, G. K., & Hiatt, R. A. (2006). Trends and disparities in socioeconomic and behavioural characteristics, life expectancy, and cause-specific mortality of native-born and foreign-born populations in the United States, 1979–2003. International Journal of Epidemiology, 35, 903–919.
Smith, J. P., & Edmonston, B. (Eds.). (1997). The new Americans: Economic, demographic, and fiscal impacts of immigration. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Social Security Administration (SSA). (2015). Annual statistical report on the Social Security Disability program, 2014 (SSA Publication No. 13-11826). Washington, DC: SSA.
Stern, S. (2003). Counting people with disabilities: How survey methodology influences estimates in the Census 2000 and the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey (Working paper). Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/people/disability/files/finalstern.pdf
Stern, S., & Brault, M. (2005). Disability data from the American Community Survey: A brief examination of the effects of a question redesign in 2003 (Working paper). Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/people/disability/files/ACS_disability.pdf
United Nations Statistics Division. (2013). United Nations Statistics Division–Standard country and area codes classifications (M49). Retrieved from http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm
U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). America’s foreign born in the last 50 years (How Do We Know report). Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/2013/comm/foreign-born.pdf
U.S. Census Bureau. (2013). Table B05003: Sex by age by nativity and citizenship status, 2007–2011 American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved from http://factfinder2.census.gov
Watson, T. (2014). Inside the refrigerator: Immigration enforcement and chilling effects in Medicaid participation. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 6(3), 313–338.
Weathers II, R. R. (2005). A guide to disability statistics from the American Community Survey. Ithaca, NY: Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics, Cornell University.
Wilson, J. H. (2013). Immigration facts: Temporary foreign workers (Brookings report). Washington, DC: Brookings Institute. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/immigration-facts-temporary-foreign-workers/
Acknowledgments
Michal Engelman is supported by the Center for Demography and Ecology (NICHD R24 HD047873) and Center for Demography of Health and Aging (NIA P30 AG17266) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Megan Zuelsdorff is supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (T32 AG00129) from the National Institute of Aging. We thank Irma Elo, Joshua Garoon, and Robert Weathers for helpful discussions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix: Composition of Geographic Regions Used in the Analysis
Appendix: Composition of Geographic Regions Used in the Analysis
United States of America
50 states and District of Columbia
U.S. territories (Guam, Northern Marianas, United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico)
Canada
Other Americas
Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama
Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint Eustatius and Saba, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Maarten (Dutch part), Saint Martin (French part), St. Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands
South America: Argentina, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
Europe
Northern Europe: Åland Islands, Channel Islands, Denmark, Faeroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Guernsey, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Norway, Sark, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Sweden, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Switzerland
Southern Europe: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Gibraltar, Greece, Holy See, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, (the former Yugoslav Republic of) Macedonia
Former Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
Other Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
Africa
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Réunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Asia
Eastern Asia: China; China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; China, Macao Special Administrative Region; Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Republic of Korea
South Central Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
Southeast Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Viet Nam
Western Asia: Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, State of Palestine, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
Oceania
Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna Islands
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Engelman, M., Kestenbaum, B.M., Zuelsdorff, M.L. et al. Work Disability Among Native-born and Foreign-born Americans: On Origins, Health, and Social Safety Nets. Demography 54, 2273–2300 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-017-0617-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-017-0617-8