Objectives: This study examined the relationship between changes in employment in North Carolina in the 1980s and fatal occupational injury rates.
Methods: Unintentional fatal occupational injuries (n = 1989) in North Carolina between 1978 and 1991 were identified via the medical examiner's system.
Results: Overall fatal injury rates declined during the 1980s, but rates increased 9.6% per year among manufacturing industries that declined in employment size; rates fell among service sector and manufacturing industries that grew.
Conclusions: Increasing occupational fatal injury rates accompanied the decline in workforce in North Carolina's traditional, labor-intensive manufacturing industries during the 1980s, while service sector and expanding manufacturing industries have experienced declining fatal injury rates.