CERGAS Seminar "Globalization, Job Stressors and Migrant Health: Evidence of Physical and Mental Decline Among Migrants in Germany"

This paper investigates the impact of import competition on the health of migrants working in German manufacturing. Although recent studies highlight significant labor force shifts following trade liberalization, there is little understanding of the broader distributional effects of trade on individual health, and no such evidence for migrants despite their key role in Germany’s economic transformation.

In a reduced-form model analyzing the health effects of import shocks from 1995 to 2016, we exploit industry-state variation in Chinese imports to examine several individual outcomes based on subjective health assessments from the German Socio-Economic Panel. These include migrants’ self-reported health status, Short Form survey items on physical and mental health, health behaviors and perceptions, disability and anthropometric outcomes. We instrument import exposure using a measure of Chinese imports in three other high-income countries.

Results show that higher Chinese import competition negatively affects migrants’ health status, increasing their mental distress and decreasing their physical health. Potential channels include job insecurity, dissatisfaction with current life, financial concerns and reduced general employment opportunity. Other mediators are mechanisms of immigrant experience, particularly acculturative stress such as perceived discrimination and migrant ability to maintain ties to their home country due to adverse labor market conditions. Findings are robust for several alternative outcomes, i.e. declining physical well-being and increased pain, a higher probability of developing disability, and decreased sport frequency.

We eventually examine heterogeneous effects on workers employed in low-technology manufacturing industries, typically subject to automation risk. Surprisingly, although over two-thirds are migrants of Mediterranean cultures, we find that their Body Mass Index increases drastically by over two points when exposed to higher import competition. This increase is attributed to a strong negative income effect that adversely impacts their earnings and employment opportunity. Additionally, this effect interferes with individuals’ access to health care and their ability to finance medical needs, as migrants shift away from more comprehensive types of health coverage.

 

Andreea Piriu is currently Ricercatore a Tempo Determinato RTD-A at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. Formerly, Research Economist in the Resilience Dashboards Team at the European Commission Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Economics at the University of Milan, and Economic Policy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

Dr. Piriu has extensive experience in large-scale complex projects in academia, international organizations and the private sector. She has contributed to central fields in the academic and policy contexts – e.g., as a core member of the European Commission Joint Research Centre Resilience Team, directly involved in the 2023 European Semester Country Reports, the EU main instrument for economic policy; also as member of several national and European projects (Age-It, FutuRes, BATModel, Progetto Pilota Natalità - the Italian Project on Gender Equality, Fertility, Maternal Health, Family and Parenting Support); and ad-hoc expert for a number of European, national and regional initiatives as well as local public policy actions.

Her research interests are in the fields of Health Economics, Policy and Management, with affectionate regard to Health Demography, Labour and Life Course Approaches to Work and Health. Policy expertise in population and development studies, particularly health and ageing trajectories with interactions of work, education and migration; socio-economic determinants of health in family contexts; sustainable maternal health planning and work-family policies; regional innovation and crosscutting topics of resilience.

An applied economist, Dr. Piriu is always keen to open new perspectives based on evidence. She is a strong supporter of women in STEM careers and their role in social sustainability plans. She combines academic research and policy experience with a proven professional track record in key public and private sector organisations across the European continent – central banking, the pharmaceutical sector (project management of clinical trials, regulatory affairs and clinical statistics), and sustainable development private investment projects.