Nativity disparities in labor market, aging, and health

Project Description

Despite immigrants’ lower socioeconomic status and less access to health care, they tend to have better health along many dimensions. In addition to possessing various health advantages, immigrants are known for facing especially challenging work environments and precarious labor market positions. The first project, with Wei-hsin Yu, investigates how immigrants’ precarious labor market positions may alter their health advantages, whether job insecurity is equally detrimental to immigrants and the native-born, and which factors may intensify or attenuate the adverse consequences of precarious employment conditions. Moreover, different immigrant groups may fare differently because of their different occupational niches, earning trajectories, probabilities of success in the labor market, and health behaviors. One paper examines the mortality consequence of unemployment among foreign-born people of various ethnoracial categories compared to the native-born population, the temporal changes in mortality consequences, and the heterogeneity in the impact of unemployment by gender and race/ethnicity (Journal of Social Issues 2022). This project further examines the generational differences in labor market conditions and health using Add Health data. The second project examines how the immigrant morbidity and mortality paradox unfolds over the life course. One paper proposes a new longitudinal approach to investigate immigrants’ mortality advantage over real time and finds that immigrants enjoy a persistent survival advantage over the native-born (Demography 2022). The other two papers examine the mechanisms for immigrant morbidity and mortality paradox over ages (Demography 2025a), and underscore the need for scholars of immigration and health to be cautious about dataset-specific nuances (Demography 2025b). The third project, with Leafia Ye, examines the trend of Asian Americans’ morbidity and mortality in the context of increasing heterogeneity within this group (The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences 2025, 2026).

Publications

• Zheng, Hui, Yoonyoung Choi, Leafia Zi Ye, and Ming Wen. 2026. “Heterogeneity in the Mortality Trend among the U.S. Asian Population, 2000-2022.” The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 81(2): gbaf248.

• Ye, Leafia Zi, and Hui Zheng. 2025. “U.S.-born Asians’ Diminishing Health Advantage Relative to Other Racial Groups, 2005-2022.” The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 80(7): gbaf088.

• Zheng, Hui, and Wei-hsin Yu. 2025b. “Do Immigrants Experience Morbidity and Disability Disadvantages in Older Ages? A Research Note.” Demography 62(5): 1457-1482.

• Zheng, Hui, and Wei-hsin Yu. 2025a. “Paradox between Immigrant Advantages in Morbidity and Mortality: Dynamic Patterns and Tentative Explanations.” Demography 62(2): 707-736.

• Zheng, Hui, and Wei-hsin Yu. 2022. “Diminished Advantage or Persistent Protection? A New Approach to Assess Immigrants’ Mortality Advantages Over Time.” Demography 59(5): 1655-1681.

• Zheng, Hui, and Wei-hsin Yu. 2022. “Do Immigrant Health Advantages Remain After Unemployment? Variations by Race-Ethnicity and Gender.” Journal of Social Issues 78: 691-716.