Ethnic Minority Workers Research Articles

Vocational Education and Training's Effect on Employment Opportunities in Northwestern Vietnam's Ethnic Minority Regions

This study examines how vocational education and training impact employment prospects for ethnic minority workers in the Northwest area of Vietnam, specifically looking at opportunities for paid employment and the shift from agriculture to other industries. Through logistic regression analysis, it was determined that vocational training greatly improves employment opportunities, with age and technical skills being key factors in securing a job. Individuals with vocational training experience enhanced job prospects compared to individuals lacking such training or holding advanced academic qualifications. The study emphasizes a significant shift of skilled workers from agriculture to other industries due to improved career prospects and higher earnings. The report also highlights fluctuations in employment likelihoods according to gender, geographic area, and sector throughout time. The study suggests that combining vocational training with local socio-economic development, focusing on vocational coaching, and establishing partnerships for training can greatly enhance job opportunities for ethnic minority workers in Vietnam. The government should create vocational training programs tailored to local socio-economic development needs and assist businesses in educating and hiring individuals from varied ethnic backgrounds to boost economic growth and decrease employment inequalities.

Decoding the networking strategies of Asian and Black workers in the London Insurance Market

PurposeThis study utilizes Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital and habitus to investigate the networking strategies of Asian and Black knowledge workers in the London Insurance Market. It also examines the factors contributing to the success or failure of these strategies. The trading activities of the London Insurance Market are underpinned by interdependent relations among its participants. It provides an appropriate context for examining the networking strategies adopted by Asian and Black workers to accelerate their careers.Design/methodology/approachThis research employed a qualitative methodology, gathering data from 24 participants through semi-structured interviews. Participants were selected using purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling methods. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data and develop aggregated concepts from the identified themes and subthemes.FindingsThe London Insurance Market accords great importance to networking. Interpersonal connections significantly influenced career progression, often overshadowing educational attainments. Asian and Black workers faced systemic nepotism and limited access to influential networks in this field. Participants strategically used their interactions to overcome these challenges and advance their careers. Many believed that their careers had a better chance of progressing through informal networks than through formal channels such as Human Resources. Some participants declined to engage in the commonly accepted networking practices, choosing alternative ways to further their careers.Practical implicationsFindings underscore the need for implementing specific organizational policies to address systemic biases and nepotism, particularly in front-office recruitment. Such policies could include prioritizing merit-based hiring practices and developing targeted initiatives to reduce the underrepresentation of minority ethnic workers in front-office positions. By adopting these measures, organizations can create more equitable career advancement opportunities and leverage the full potential of their diverse workforce.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature on minority ethnic workers' careers, networking theory and workplace diversity. It provides insights into the networking strategies of Asian and Black workers within the London Insurance Market, revealing that these strategies are dependent on contextual factors. The study also highlights the pervasive practice of nepotism deeply ingrained in the habitus of the London Insurance Market and which acts as a barrier for gaining access to influential networks.

The 1973 Migrant Workers’ Conference and Histories of Multiculturalism

Nowhere is the alliance between leftist organisations, trade unions, migrant workers’ clubs and ethnic welfare societies better represented than in the migrant workers’ conferences held in 1973 and 1975. This article argues for the historic importance of these overlooked moments in the history of twentieth-century labour migration. It explores the inter-ethnic and social justice aims of grassroots multiculturalism in Australia – a model that has been lost in subsequent official renderings of multiculturalism. What was the social and political position of non-Anglo migrant labourers and the migrant rights activists representing their interests? How did they engage with the labour movement and the Far Left? What political alliances formed around this question of migrant labour and migrant welfare for ethnic minority workers? And what were the outcomes of these conferences? This article will explore the improbable alliances and tensions that formed the migrant rights movement in the early 1970s; track its fracturing after the mid-1970s, when economic crises rendered its more ambitious redistributive aims unachievable; and examine how the ideological direction of state-endorsed multiculturalism diverted its inter-ethnic social justice agenda.

Attitudes to and perceptions of workplace health promotion amongst employees from ethnic minorities in the UK: A scoping review.

Ethnic minorities make up approximately 14% of the UK workforce. Despite the disproportionate burden of ill-health amongst ethnic minorities, and the increased interest in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) in the workplace, workplace health and wellbeing interventions are still most often designed for the ethnic majority. The purpose of this scoping review was to explore the depth and breadth of evidence on the attitudes to and perceptions of health and wellbeing interventions in the workplace within ethnic minority groups in the UK, and to identify gaps in evidence that would provide direction for future research needs. A scoping review with quality appraisal was undertaken, supplemented by a review of grey literature and a narrative review exploring related evidence from the knowledge bases related to community and cultural adaptation. Only three peer-reviewed studies met inclusion criteria, preventing broad conclusions. 14 papers from the community and cultural adaptation literature provided additional information about how health promotion may be approached effectively in the workplace, including the importance of culturally sensitive, people-centred design, and the use of established adaptation frameworks. The literature suggests a need for improvements in four key areas: (1) reporting of ethnic minorities in data relating to workplace health and wellbeing research, (2) more thorough review of perceptions and attitudes of ethnic minority workers in the UK, (3) design of culturally appropriate interventions that are tested for impact, and (4) testing of the effectiveness of culturally adapted interventions.

Bilateral Labor Agreement with Gendered and Unfree Labor: Vietnamese Women Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia

Abstract Using a systemic and institutional analysis of transnational dynamics in the recruiting, hiring and placement of Vietnamese female migrants in domestic work in Saudi Arabia, this article showcases the experiences of Vietnamese female domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and contributes to the social protection and migrant domestic worker literatures. It contributes a critical analysis on whether bilateral labor agreements can be mechanisms for social protection of migrants. Focusing on the case of Vietnam, I argue that the bilateral labor agreement (bla) signed between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, enacted by the Vietnamese labor brokerage state and the Saudi Kafala systems, is a form structural violence because it fails to provide social welfare and protection for Vietnamese women domestic workers. In this systemic/structural violence, intersectionality shows that not all female workers suffer the same since ethnic minority workers most often suffer more than the majority (Kinh) female workers. Moreover, inside the Kafeel (the employer/sponsor) homes of this system, most of these female workers suffer, as unfree labor, from being transferred from one house to another, resulting in precarity, cycle of debt and dispossession of their rights.

Managers' perceptions of masculinity and racialization in Swedish nursing homes

AbstractNursing homes for older people are an integral part in most postindustrial welfare states. The strong formalization and regulation of the Swedish care sector have contributed to a comparatively large share of frontline workers being native‐born Swedish women with a shorter educational background. Yet, an aging population in interplay with increased difficulties to recruit sufficient numbers of native‐born care workers has led to Sweden following an internationally observed trend with an increased reliance on not only migrant women but also migrant men as care workers in residential care facilities. However, little is known about migrant men's experiences of care work and the challenges and obstacles they might face because of their gender and skin color, not least when it comes to experiences of being exposed to gendered racism from the residents. The study builds on interviews with 21 managers employed at Swedish elder care facilities in the Stockholm area. The results suggest that both Black women and men to a greater extent than other ethnic minority workers risk being exposed to racism. At the same time, the results suggest that Black men, due to their gender and skin color, constitute the group of staff that most of all risks encountering racism in the everyday life of caregiving. Taken together, this points to the need of highlighting how stereotypes of gender and race as well as gendered racism are given and gain meaning in elder care. This points to the importance of not considering “migrant care workers” an undifferentiated category of workers when working on creating nondiscriminatory and inclusive working conditions for all visibly racialized care workers.

Critical Factors Affecting the Safety Communication of Ethnic Minority Construction Workers

Ethnic minority workers (EMWs) or migrant workers continue to be confronted with communication problems, which can have serious effects on safety outcomes. This study aims to help improve construction industry EMW safety communication by uncovering and analyzing the criticality, underlying constructs, and explanatory power of the influencing factors involved. A mixed research design was employed by combining a literature review, semistructured interviews, and a questionnaire survey. Following the identification of an initial set of safety communication factors (SCFs) and a questionnaire designed and administered to EMWs in the Hong Kong and Australian construction industry, a total of 134 valid responses were analyzed through mean scoring, factor analysis, and importance-explanation analysis. Eighteen critical EMW SCFs are identified and categorized into three groups of worker-related SCFs, manager-related SCFs, and organization-related SCFs. A set of 36 SCFs identified cannot only be used to examine the relative importance of EMW SCFs, but can also be adopted to capture the critical SCFs for both local and ethnic minority construction workers in other countries. Narrowing a wide range of SCFs for EMWs provides stakeholders with the insights needed to the key contributory factors of safety communication, which in turn has a positive impact on safety performance. Despite this study being conducted in Hong Kong and Australia, its findings can also be used as a reference for other countries where EMWs are employed (e.g., the US, the UK, Canada, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Africa).

The role of supervisor support for dealing with customer verbal aggression. Differences between ethnic minority and ethnic majority workers

Customer verbal aggression is a core social stressor among retail workers which impairs wellbeing via emotional dissonance. This study examined two moderators—supervisor support and ethnic minority status—in this well-established relationship. In addition, it tested a moderated moderated mediation model to explore whether the moderation effects of supervisor support on the indirect relationship between customer verbal aggression and wellbeing (measured as positive affect) via emotional dissonance vary between ethnic minority and ethnic majority workers. Retail workers of one retail chain ( N = 603) completed our paper-pencil survey at two measurement points. Path modeling showed that emotional dissonance mediates between customer verbal aggression and positive affect. Taken alone, neither supervisor support nor ethnic minority status moderated this relationship. However, their combination had a significant moderating effect; supervisor support moderated the indirect effect of customer verbal aggression on positive affect through emotional dissonance only among ethnic minority workers. Surprisingly, supervisor support amplified this mediation. We discuss our findings by considering the role of supervisor support and the status of ethnic minority workers.

Hospitality work and the sociality of affective labour

This article explores how the social relationships of precarious workers contribute to employment and labour practices in the hospitality industry. In so doing, it contributes to theoretical discussions about the nature of post-Fordist labour, and to studies of the social relations of precarity as they are enacted in workers’ intimate lives. Empirically, the article describes a distinctive mode of interpersonal negotiation and sociality practised by workers that is connected to the requirement that workers be ‘fun’ at work to facilitate consumption and to support the labour of co-workers. This sociality also shapes access to employment. However, the way that this takes place sheds light on divisions within the service labour force, in which employment opportunities are distributed through a social ‘scene’ that excludes migrant and ethnic minority workers. Involvement in this scene places the relationship between the public and the private in workers’ social lives into a constant tension, but exclusion increases vulnerability to poor working conditions and exploitation. The article concludes by arguing that the relationship between the public and the private in the practice of affective labour is not dissolved so much as posed as a problem that workers must negotiate within the disciplinary requirements of labour in specific industries and the modes of embodied inequality shaping the service labour force.

The role of the workplace in ethnic wage differentials

AbstractUsing linked employer–employee data for Britain, we examine ethnic wage differentials among full‐time employees. We find substantial ethnic segregation across workplaces. However, this inter‐workplace segregation does not contribute to the aggregate wage penalty in Britain. Instead, most of the ethnic wage gap exists within the workplace, between observationally‐equivalent co‐workers. Lower pay satisfaction and higher levels of skill mismatch among ethnic minority workers are consistent with discrimination in wage‐setting on the part of employers. The presence of recognized trade unions and the use of job evaluation schemes within the workplace are associated with a smaller ethnic wage gap. These findings indicate that more attention should be placed on ensuring fairness in wage determination.

An Exploratory Study to Identify Key Stressors of Ethnic Minority Workers in the Construction Industry

An Exploratory Study to Identify Key Stressors of Ethnic Minority Workers in the Construction Industry

Employment Inequalities Among British Minority Ethnic Workers in Health and Social Care at the Time of Covid-19: A Rapid Review of the Literature

There are long-standing concerns of inequalities in the workplace among minority ethnic (ME) workers in the UK health and social care (H&SC) sectors. ME workers contribute significantly to H&SC delivery. However, there is considerable evidence of substantial negative experiences among this group across various workplace indicators and outcomes, including (mis)treatment. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these inequalities with higher infection rates and related deaths among ME health and care workers. A rapid review methodology was employed to examine the work experiences and outcomes of ME workers in H&SC in the UK, focusing on low paid workers. The review identified fifty-one relevant outputs, detailing the nature and extent of inequalities across recruitment, career progression and treatment at work, including bullying and harassment. The findings highlight the impact of the intersectionality of gender, race and migration status concerning the ways inequalities are manifested and operated through individual perceptions and institutional and structural racism.

COVID-19 Vaccination Should not be Mandatory for Health and Social Care Workers

A COVID-19 vaccine mandate is being introduced for health and social care workers in England, and those refusing to comply will either be redeployed or have their employment terminated. We argue that COVID-19 vaccination should not be mandatory for these workers for several reasons. First, it ignores their genuine concerns, and fails to respect their moral integrity and bodily autonomy. Second, it risks causing psychological reactance, potentially worsening vaccine hesitancy. Third, Black and minority ethnic workers are less likely to have been vaccinated and therefore may be disproportionately impacted by the implications of the mandate. Fourth, a mandate could have a significant negative effect on service provision. Fifth, waning immunity and new variants mean that booster doses are increasingly likely to be regularly required, meaning that what constitutes being ‘fully vaccinated’ will be a constantly shifting target. Finally, vaccine mandates may have an adverse effect on health and social care recruitment. We argue that daily rapid antigen testing is a viable alternative to a vaccine mandate that is non-coercive and fair. This could also be supplemented by monetary incentives to be vaccinated.

Pattern of traumatic occupational injuries in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study.

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the labor market is thriving, employing a large workforce in occupations that carry a high risk for traumatic injuries such as construction, transportation, and manufacturing. These jobs usually involve physical exertion, power tools, high-voltage electricity, working at heights, and exposure to bad weather conditions that could potentially lead to injury. This study aimed to determine patterns of traumatic occupational injuries in Riyadh, KSA. A cross-sectional study was conducted at King Khalid Hospital and Prince Sultan Centre for Healthcare, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University Hospital, and the Al-Kharj Military Industries Corporation Hospital in Al-Kharj City in the KSA between July 2021 and 2022. Descriptive analysis elucidated the type, severity, and patterns of management of non-fatal traumatic occupational injuries. A Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Weibull model for length of hospital stay adjusted for age, gender, nationality, cause for injury, and injury severity scale (ISS) scores were constructed. A total of 73 patients with a mean age of 33.8 ± 14.1 years were included in the study. The most common cause of occupational injury was falling from height (87.7%). The median length of hospital stay was 6 days (IQR: 4 - 7), with no mortalities. In the adjusted survival model, compared to migrants, Saudi nationals had a 45% lower median hospital stay (-62 to - 21), P < 0.01, and every 1-point increase in ISS was associated with a 5% increase in median length of hospital stay (CI: 3 - 7, P < 0.01). Being a Saudi national and having lower ISS scores were associated with shorter durations of hospital stay. Our findings indicate the need for improved occupational safety measures, especially among migrant, foreign-born, and ethnic minority workers.

Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong: Assessing Current Working Conditions and Avenues for Integration

ABSTRACT Diversity management is increasingly important as economies globalize, and workforce compositions diversify. However, with the diversification of workforce comes the necessity to best manage this phenomenon such that minority contributions are valued and organizational production increases. This study aims to empirically test Olsen and Martins’s proposed theoretical framework on diversity management, using a small sample of ethnic minority and ethnic Chinese workers in Hong Kong. Specifically, this study looks at whether differences in working conditions exist between minorities and Chinese, and whether the supervisor’s role – specifically with provision of family-friendly policies (FFPs) – helps with assimilation and integration of minorities into the workforce by reducing work/family conflict. The study finds that ethnic minorities work longer hours and have less access to FFPs, but are more content with work-life balance, which may not be related to FFPs. In addition, the role of the supervisor is important in this process, but not necessarily by the pathway of providing FFPs. The findings propose that more supervisor sensitivity training should be implemented to understand the diverse needs of ethnic minorities, and a gradual normalization of FFPs should eventually be implemented.

Ethnic Minority and Majority Social Workers Working with Ethnic Minority Clients: Culture-Bound Professional Interventions and Burnout among Arab and Jewish Israeli Social Workers

Purpose This study tests a new bicultural model of social work with ethnic minority clients. We examined how often social workers applied professional interventions rooted in the minority and majority cultures and how the choice of interventions affected the social workers' burnout. Methods: The study was conducted in Israel, and the research samples included Arab ( n = 300) and Jewish ( n = 210) social workers. Results: We found that Arab and Jewish social workers more often used interventions rooted in the minority than in the majority culture. More frequent application of both types of interventions was associated with a higher level of personal accomplishment in both groups of social workers. However, the connection between interventions rooted in the majority culture and burnout was positive among Jewish and negative among Arab social workers. Discussion: The implementation of the obtained results in social work practice with ethnic minorities is discussed.

The role of optimal conditions and intergroup contact in promoting positive intergroup relations in and out of the workplace: A study with ethnic majority and minority workers

A field study was conducted with majority and minority group members to test whether the effects of optimal contact conditions and of intergroup contact generalize across situations, and extend to the support of intergroup equality in terms of agreement with social policies benefitting the minority group. Participants were 163 Italian and 129 immigrant workers in three corporate organizations. Results from structural equation modelling analyses revealed that, for the majority group, positive contact stemming from optimal contact conditions was indirectly associated, via reduction in negative stereotypes, with more positive behavior that generalized across situations. For both majority and minority groups, positive contact stemming from optimal contact conditions was associated with less negative stereotypes, and in turn with greater support for social policies favoring the minority. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, also in relation to the significance of the present results for research investigating the relation between intergroup contact and social change.

From the public sector to the gig economy

From the public sector to the gig economy

A rapid scoping review of COVID-19 and vulnerable workers: Intersecting occupational and public health issues.

BackgroundThis article reports the results of a rapid scoping review of the literature on COVID‐19 transmission risk to workers in essential sectors such as retail, health care, manufacturing, and agriculture, and more particularly the experiences of workers in precarious employment and social situations.MethodsFollowing scoping review methods, we included 30 studies that varied in terms of methodology and theoretical approaches. The search included peer‐reviewed articles and grey literature published between March and September 2020.ResultsBased on the studies reviewed, we found that COVID‐19 infection and death rates increased not only with age and comorbidities, but also with discrimination and structural inequities based on racism and sexism. Racial and ethnic minority workers, including migrant workers, are concentrated in high‐risk occupations and this concentration is correlated to lower socioeconomic conditions. The COVID‐19 pandemic appears in the occupational health and safety spotlight as an exacerbator of already existing socioeconomic inequalities and social inequalities in health, especially in light of the intersection of issues related to racism, ethnic minority status, and sexism.ConclusionsThis review provides early evidence about the limitations of institutions' responses to the pandemic, and their capacity to provide a safe and decent working environment for all workers, regardless of their employment status or the social protections they may enjoy under normal circumstances. It is also important to think about these issues in the postpandemic context, when conditions of precariousness and vulnerability persist and possibly worsen.

How do ethnic minority foodservice workers perceive employee well-being? An exploratory study

Ethnic minority workers play an essential role in the hospitality workforce, especially in the foodservice industry. Nevertheless, very few studies have focused on this population and explored their needs and work motivations in-depth. Guided by the self-determination theory, the purpose of this study was to examine how ethnic minority foodservice workers perceive employee well-being and investigate the effects of employee well-being on workplace outcomes. This study first interviewed twenty foodservice employees and then conducted a national survey comprising 411 responses from ethnic minority employees. The results revealed the following four dimensions of ethnic minority workers' perceived employee well-being: workplace experience, workplace happiness, creativity and knowledge, and self-actualization. Employee well-being is also found positively related to the sample's organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Based on the findings, this study provided both theoretical and practical implications.