Good job, bad job: Occupational perceptions among Latino poultry workers.

Abstract

Immigrant workers frequently take jobs that are physically demanding, provide low wages, and result in injuries (e.g., poultry production and processing). Through a qualitative approach, this paper elicits poultry workers' evaluations of their jobs and set them in the larger context of their lives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 65 poultry workers in western North Carolina. Workers were asked to discuss job characteristics, physical and psychological impacts of their employment, and perceived health risks. Immigrant workers valued the stability, benefits, upward mobility, and pay offered. They disliked the physical demands, the potential perceived effects of the job on their health, and the interactions with bosses and peers. Workers' willingness to endure dirty, dangerous, and demanding (3-D) conditions of poultry must be understood in the context of other employment options, structural violence, and their focus on immediate family needs that positive aspects of these jobs can fulfill. Am. J. Ind. Med. 59:877-886, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.