Immigration status and work disability duration

In brief

• Immigrant workers, particularly recent immigrants and those who arrived in Canada as refugees, who may have lower English proficiency and a lack of familiarity with Canadian social programs, face particular challenges after a work injury.
• We compared disability durations for work injuries in BC for recent immigrants (less than 10 years in Canada), established immigrants (more than 10 years in Canada), and Canadian-born workers, by linking accepted workers’ compensation claims in BC from 1995-2012 to permanent resident data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
• In a second analysis, we looked at similar linked data for 2009-2015, for three immigrant classifications: economic, family reunification, and refugee; and for four injury/illness groups: fractures, connective tissue, concussion, and back strain.
• From 1995-2012, both recent and established immigrants had longer work disability durations than Canadian-born workers, and the relationship between immigration status and disability duration was greater for younger immigrant workers than for older immigrant workers and for immigrant men than for immigrant women.
• From 2009-2015, immigrant workers experienced longer work disability durations compared to Canadian-born workers with the same injury. The largest differences were observed for family and refugee/other immigrant classification workers, and, in particular, for women within these classifications.
• Immigrant workers’ longer disability durations may be a result of more severe injuries or challenges navigating the workers’ compensation system with delays in seeking disability benefits and rehabilitation services.
• Differences by immigrant classification speak to vulnerabilities or inequities upon arrival in Canada that persist after entry to the workforce and warrant further investigation for early mitigation strategies.

Next steps

• We are examining the provision of employment-related and rehabilitation services that are meant to provide access to safe work and minimize work disability. By linking immigration data with 1) workers’ compensation and medical services data; and 2) settlement service use for the working population of BC, we will examine the impact of rehabilitation and employment-related services on work and work disability experiences of immigrants compared to Canadian-born workers.
• Evidence of different experiences and of determinants of these differences will provide inputs for discussions and ultimately decisions by policy-makers, employers and regulators/insurers to reduce barriers and health inequities, and improve outcomes for all workers, including immigrants as potentially more vulnerable and precarious workers.

Related publications