“It’s Totally Destroyed Our Life”

Abstract

Precarious employment is rapidly growing, but qualitative data on pathways to and mechanisms for health and well-being is lacking. This article describes the cumulative and intersecting micro-level pathways and mechanisms between precarious employment and health among immigrant men and women in Toronto. It draws on semi-structured interviews conducted in 2014 with 15 women and 12 men from 11 countries of origin. The article describes how precarious employment, conceptualized by workers as encompassing powerlessness, economic insecurity, work for multiple employers, nonstandard and unpredictable schedules, hazardous working conditions, and lack of benefits and protections, negatively impacts workers' physical and mental health as well as that of their spouses or partners and children. It documents pathways to health and well-being, including stress, material and social deprivation, and exposure to hazards, as well as commuting difficulties and childcare challenges. Throughout, gender and migration are shown to influence experiences of work and health. The findings draw attention to dimensions of precarity and pathways to health that are not always highlighted in research and discourse on precarious employment and provide valuable insights into the vicious circle of precarious employment and health.

What is precarious employment? A systematic review of definitions and operationalizations from quantitative and qualitative studies

“…Work environment. This dimension consisted predominantly of themes and subthemes concerning psychosocial work environment such as lack of work-time control (schedule unpredictability) (53,58,66,68,70,80), high work demands (long working hours) (42,43,46,53,66), skill discretion (being able to use and develop one's skills) (42,45,46,53,60,65,68,72), as well as hazardous physical work environment (58,60).…”

“…Number of included studies according to study characteristics. One mixed method, one historical article tive observational studies(12,, while 18 were qualitative studies(64)(65)(66)(67)(68)(69)(70)(71)(72)(73)(74)(75)(76)(77)(78)(79)(80)(81). Only one article conducted a mixed-methods approach(83) and one was an historical article(82).…”

Finding opportunity in the COVID-19 crisis: prioritizing gender in the design of social protection policies

“…It is estimated that the equivalent of 400 million jobs was lost worldwide in the first half of 2020, with a second wave of COVID-19 expected to slow economic recovery significantly ( International Labour Organization, 2020 ). Women, racialized people, immigrants, people with disabilities, SGM and people at the intersections of those groups are more likely to experience an impact on employment ( Premji, 2018 ), underemployment (Mawani, 2014 , 2018 ), associated occupational safety risks ( Smith and Mustard, 2010 ) and poorer health. Even before the pandemic, SGM were more likely to lose employment (17%) compared with the general US population (13%) and less likely to have access to paid sick leave (29%) compared with the general population (76%) ( Maxwell et al , 2018 ).…”

Travail et symptômes de détresse psychologique : Quel est le rôle des traits d’identité culturelle en lien avec l’ethnicité et le statut d’immigrant dans la main-d’oeuvre canadienne ?

“…Il en est de même des immigrants en provenance d'Afrique, du Moyen-Orient, ou d'Asie (Erdem et al, 2017 ;Haverkamp et al, 2015). En effet, les immigrants et les personnes non blanches semblent en général faire face à des situations socioéconomiques plus difficiles en comparaison avec les personnes blanches ou non immigrantes (Boudarbat, 2011 ;Premji, 2018). D'où la première hypothèse : H1 : Le statut d'immigrant et l'ethnicité sont associés significativement aux symptômes de détresse psychologique.…”

“…Cette situation défavorable semble être une réalité pour les personnes immigrantes et non caucasiennes. Ces deux groupes semblent associés à plus de déqualification (Boudarbat, 2011 ;Premji, 2018) et d'insécurité au travail (Premji, 2018). Ils feraient également face à moins de soutien social au travail (Aalto et al, 2014), à des horaires irréguliers (Aalto et al, 2014 ;Hurtado et al, 2012 ;Premji, 2018), à des demandes élevées (Hurtado et al, 2012), à des revenus faibles (Boudarbat, 2011 ;Hurtado et al, 2012) et à une faible latitude décisionnelle (Arcury et al, 2014).…”