English
Valencià
Using a unique dataset from Italy we study the effect of the unemployment rate at the first labor market entry on the subsequent workplace safety. We also investigate the impact of the current unemployment rate. We analyze these effects of labor market conditions on the hazard injury rates for males entering the labor market in 1994-2003. The data allows us to observe the exact timing of labor market entry, work histories as well as the eventual workplace injuries. Our findings confirm the procyclicality of workplace risk to the business cycle and also point to a sizable effect of the initial labor market conditions on the hazard injury rate. In particular, 1 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate at entry reduces the survival time (i.e. the elapsed time between entry and the first injury) by a factor of 0.8.