What explains the socioeconomic status-health gradient? Evidence from workplace COVID-19 infections
This paper studies the contribution of the workplace to the SES-health gradient. Our analysis is based on a unique dataset that tracks various health outcomes and workplace risks among healthcare workers during the first four months of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The setting provides a...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-06-01
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| Series: | SSM: Population Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827322001033 |
| _version_ | 1811244833865465856 |
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| author | Raphael Godefroy Joshua Lewis |
| author_facet | Raphael Godefroy Joshua Lewis |
| author_sort | Raphael Godefroy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper studies the contribution of the workplace to the SES-health gradient. Our analysis is based on a unique dataset that tracks various health outcomes and workplace risks among healthcare workers during the first four months of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The setting provides an exceptional opportunity to test for work-related disparities in health, while controlling for confounding determinants of the SES-health gradient. We find that low-SES nurses were systematically more likely to contract COVID-19 as a result of workplace exposure. These differentials existed in all healthcare institutions, but were particularly large in non-hospital settings. In contrast, we find no relationship between SES and nonwork-related infection rates. The differences in workplace infection rates are substantially larger than those implied by standard ‘task-based’ indices of transmission risk, and cannot be attributable to easily identifiable metrics of workplace risk. Together, our results show how subtle differences in work conditions or job duties can substantially contribute to the SES-health gradient. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T14:31:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a40c1dc37b18443c822468f86a0db345 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2352-8273 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T14:31:42Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SSM: Population Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-a40c1dc37b18443c822468f86a0db3452022-12-22T03:29:16ZengElsevierSSM: Population Health2352-82732022-06-0118101124What explains the socioeconomic status-health gradient? Evidence from workplace COVID-19 infectionsRaphael Godefroy0Joshua Lewis1Department of Economics, Université de Montréal, 3150, Rue Jean-Brillant, Montreal, QC, H3T1N8, CanadaCorresponding author.; Department of Economics, Université de Montréal, 3150, Rue Jean-Brillant, Montreal, QC, H3T1N8, CanadaThis paper studies the contribution of the workplace to the SES-health gradient. Our analysis is based on a unique dataset that tracks various health outcomes and workplace risks among healthcare workers during the first four months of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The setting provides an exceptional opportunity to test for work-related disparities in health, while controlling for confounding determinants of the SES-health gradient. We find that low-SES nurses were systematically more likely to contract COVID-19 as a result of workplace exposure. These differentials existed in all healthcare institutions, but were particularly large in non-hospital settings. In contrast, we find no relationship between SES and nonwork-related infection rates. The differences in workplace infection rates are substantially larger than those implied by standard ‘task-based’ indices of transmission risk, and cannot be attributable to easily identifiable metrics of workplace risk. Together, our results show how subtle differences in work conditions or job duties can substantially contribute to the SES-health gradient.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827322001033Socioeconomic statusHealth inequalityCOVID-19 |
| spellingShingle | Raphael Godefroy Joshua Lewis What explains the socioeconomic status-health gradient? Evidence from workplace COVID-19 infections SSM: Population Health Socioeconomic status Health inequality COVID-19 |
| title | What explains the socioeconomic status-health gradient? Evidence from workplace COVID-19 infections |
| title_full | What explains the socioeconomic status-health gradient? Evidence from workplace COVID-19 infections |
| title_fullStr | What explains the socioeconomic status-health gradient? Evidence from workplace COVID-19 infections |
| title_full_unstemmed | What explains the socioeconomic status-health gradient? Evidence from workplace COVID-19 infections |
| title_short | What explains the socioeconomic status-health gradient? Evidence from workplace COVID-19 infections |
| title_sort | what explains the socioeconomic status health gradient evidence from workplace covid 19 infections |
| topic | Socioeconomic status Health inequality COVID-19 |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827322001033 |
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