ABSTRACT

Objective: Occupations in agriculture and natural resources persistently have some of the highest rates of injury and illness. Additionally, these fields are dominated by segments of the population known to demonstrate poorer health, such as those with less education, lower family income, and more irregular labor force participation. Thus, it is unclear if health disparities between those in these sectors and the rest of the labor force are unique to these occupations, or a reflection of their demographic composition. The objective of this study was to determine how much of the difference in self-rated health between those who work agriculture and natural resource occupations – meaning farming, forestry, fishing, hunting, and resource extraction – and the rest of the labor force was due to demographic characteristics versus unexplained factors unique to the occupations.

Methods: Using the National Health Interview Survey from 2008 to 2017, a two-way Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition of linear probability models predicting poor self-rated health between those reporting agriculture and natural resource occupations and other working adults with sociodemographic characteristics was performed.

Results: Results show more than the total difference in the probability of poor self-rated health between the two groups (0.0173) can be explained by demographic composition (0.0303). If the agriculture and natural resource workforce had the average demographic composition between them and the rest of the labor force, they would have lower rates of poor self-rated health than the broader labor force.

Conclusion: While agriculture and natural resource occupations are hazardous, the prevalence of poor self-rated health in the labor force is not unique to these occupations, but appears common among all occupations dominated by those with low income and education.

摘要

客观的：农业和自然资源行业一直是受伤和患病率最高的行业。此外，这些领域主要由已知健康状况较差的人群主导，例如受教育程度较低、家庭收入较低以及劳动力参与不规律的人群。因此，尚不清楚这些部门的人员与其他劳动力之间的健康差异是否是这些职业所独有的，或者是其人口构成的反映。本研究的目的是确定从事农业和自然资源职业（即农业、林业、渔业、狩猎、

方法：使用 2008 年至 2017 年的全国健康访谈调查，进行了线性概率模型的双向 Oaxaca-Blinder 分解，预测报告农业和自然资源职业的人与其他具有社会人口特征的工作成年人之间的自评健康状况不佳。

结果：结果表明，人口结构 (0.0303) 可以解释两组之间自评健康状况不佳的概率的总差异 (0.0173)。如果农业和自然资源劳动力的人口构成处于他们与其他劳动力之间的平均水平，那么与更广泛的劳动力相比，他们的自评健康状况不佳的比率将更低。

结论：虽然农业和自然资源职业是危险的，但劳动力中自评健康状况不佳的流行并不是这些职业所独有的，而是在以低收入和受教育者为主的所有职业中普遍存在。