Costs of occupational injuries to teenagers, United States.

OBJECTIVES

This paper estimates the incidence and costs of teenage occupational injuries by severity in the United States.

METHODS

Existing estimates of occupational injury costs are adapted for the teenage population. Incidence estimates are constructed using data from the US 1993 Annual Survey of Occupational Injury and Illness and the 1993 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries combined with incidence data from the National Health Interview Survey.

RESULTS

In 1993, an estimated 371,000 teenagers were injured in the workplace, accounting for 4.2% of all occupational injuries. These injuries cost $5 billion, approximately 3% of the total of injury costs involving teenagers.

CONCLUSIONS

Teenagers appear to account for a larger share of the total number of occupational injuries relative to their presence in the employed workforce, but a lower share of the costs of such injuries.