Differences between Spanish and Foreign Workers in the Duration of Workplace Accident Leave: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

The main goal of the current work is to analyse differences between the working conditions of national and foreign workers in Spain. For this purpose, we study an important dimension of those working conditions, namely workplace injuries, and more specifically the differences in duration of occupational injury leave as a consequence of work-related accidents. The empirical analysis is carried out using stochastic frontier techniques. This allows a minimum period off work due to merely physiological or medical reasons to be distinguished from an additional period linked to worker behaviour. This latter component measures inefficiency in frontier literature, and is identified in the present work as a relevant indicator of working conditions. The findings reveal that most of the differences observed between national and immigrant workers in the already mentioned duration are a result of the inefficiency term. For the purpose of the current work, this is reflected in poorer working conditions for immigrant workers, particularly for those from less advanced countries.