Immigrants and health: Unemployment and health-risks of labour migrants in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1984–1992

This article presents a longitudinal study of employment, unemployment and health of migrant workers in Germany. The analyses were conducted with longitudinal samples of the waves 1–6 (1984–1989) and the waves 6–9 (1989–1992) of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). German and migrant workers did not differ with respect to their health satisfaction but unemployed foreign workers were quite less satisfied with their health than unemployed Germans. This corresponded with a high percentage of foreign unemployed (30–50%) who felt chronically ill. A further examination of two (dichotomously formulated) principal investigation hypotheses could not show that the data support the explanation that the poorer health of unemployed migrants was caused by the unemployment situation. The results are interpreted in the way that the unemployed migrantsʹ poorer health can be explained with (health) selection processes in the labour market.