Does educational attainment reduce agricultural day laborer injuries in Mexico?

Abstract

Agricultural work is an inherently dangerous job with the risk of injury considered part of a worker’s compensation. We focus on the determinants of an agricultural day laborer (jornalero) having experienced an injury while working. The policy variable of interest is the worker’s level of educational attainment as workers with a higher level may be better able to understand how equipment works and safety warnings. Controlling for other factors, we find that at the variable means, a jornalero with an additional year of education has a 7.7 percent lower probability of having experienced an accident.

Keywords

• Agricultural Employment
• Injuries
• Education
• Day Laborers