McClure Elizabeth S, Robinson Whitney R, Vasudevan Pavithra, Cullen Mark R, Marshall Stephen W, Noth Elizabeth, Richardson David
Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Am J Ind Med. 2023 Apr;66(4):307-319. doi: 10.1002/ajim.23464. Epub 2023 Feb 7.
Former workers at a Southern aluminum smelting facility raised concerns that the most hazardous jobs were assigned to Black workers, but the role of workplace segregation had not been quantified or examined in the company town. Prior studies discuss race and gender disparities in working conditions, but few have documented them in the aluminum industry.
We obtained workers' company records for 1985-2007 and characterized four job metrics: prestige (sociologic rankings), worker-defined danger (worker assessments), annual wage (1985 dollars), and estimated total particulate matter (TPM) exposure (job exposure matrix). Characteristics of job at hire and trajectories were compared by race and sex using linear binomial models.
Non-White males had the highest percentage of workers in low prestige and high danger jobs at hire and up to 20 years after. After 20 years tenure, 100% of White workers were in higher prestige and lower danger jobs. Most female workers, regardless of race, entered and remained in low-wage jobs, while 50% of all male workers maintained their initial higher-wage jobs. Non-White females had the highest prevalence of workers in low-wage jobs at hire and after 20 years-increasing from 63% (95% CI: 59-67) to 100% (95% CI: 78-100). All female workers were less likely to be in high TPM exposure jobs. Non-White males were most likely to be hired into high TPM exposure jobs, and this exposure prevalence increased as time accrued, while staying constant for other race-sex groups.
There is evidence of job segregation by race and sex in this cohort of aluminum smelting workers. Documentation of disparities in occupational hazards is important for informing health interventions and research.
美国南部一家铝冶炼厂的前工人担心，最危险的工作都分配给了黑人工人，但工作场所隔离的作用在公司城镇中尚未得到量化或研究。先前的研究讨论了工作条件方面的种族和性别差异，但很少有研究记录铝行业中的此类差异。
我们获取了1985 - 2007年工人的公司记录，并对四个工作指标进行了描述：声望（社会学排名）、工人定义的危险程度（工人评估）、年薪（以1985年美元计）以及估计的总颗粒物（TPM）暴露量（工作暴露矩阵）。使用线性二项式模型按种族和性别比较了入职时和职业发展轨迹中的工作特征。
非白人男性在入职时以及入职后长达20年的时间里，从事低声望和高危险工作的工人比例最高。工作20年后，100%的白人工人从事声望较高和危险程度较低的工作。大多数女性工人，无论种族如何，都进入并一直从事低薪工作，而所有男性工人中有50%维持了他们最初的高薪工作。非白人女性在入职时和工作20年后从事低薪工作的工人比例最高，从63%（95%置信区间：59 - 67）增至100%（95%置信区间：78 - 100）。所有女性工人从事高TPM暴露工作的可能性较小。非白人男性最有可能被雇用到高TPM暴露工作岗位，并且随着时间推移，这种暴露比例增加，而其他种族 - 性别群体则保持不变。
在这组铝冶炼工人中，存在按种族和性别进行工作隔离的证据。记录职业危害方面的差异对于指导健康干预措施和研究很重要。
