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Adverse working conditions and immigrants’ physical health and depression outcomes: a longitudinal study in Greece

  • Original Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Τhe study examines whether adverse working conditions for immigrants in Greece bear an association with deteriorated physical health and increased levels of depression during 2018 and 2019.

Methods

A panel dataset resulted from the collaboration with centers providing free Greek language courses to immigrant population groups. Random Effects models assess the determinants of physical health and depression.

Results

Findings indicate that workers with no written contract of employment, receiving hourly wages lower than the national hourly minimum wages, and experiencing insults and/or threats in their present job experience worse physical health and increased levels of depression. Moreover, the study found that the inexistence of workplace contracts, underpayment, and verbal abuse in the workplace may coexist. An increased risk of underpayment and verbal abuse reveals itself when workers do not have a contract of employment and vice versa.

Conclusion

Immigrant workers without a job contract might experience a high degree of workplace precariousness and exclusion from health benefits and insurance. Immigrant workers receiving a wage lower than the corresponding minimum potentially do not secure a living income, resulting in unmet needs and low investments in health. Workplace abuse might correspond with vulnerability related to humiliating treatment. These conditions can negatively impact workers’ physical health and foster depression. Policies should promote written employment contracts and ensure a mechanism for workers to register violations of fair practices.

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Data availability

The data appendix, codes and original software estimates have been provided to the Journal during the submission process. The data that support the findings of this study are available on reasonable requests.

Code availability

The data appendix, codes and original software tables have been provided to the Journal during the submission process. The codes that support the findings of this study are available on reasonable requests.

Notes

  1. In this study,’immigrant’ represents an umbrella term to refer to people of non-Greek origin who live in Greece who might have, or not have granted a permit to live and work in the state (Oxford Dictionary of English, 2010).

  2. Immigrants who have been forced to leave their country or home, because there was a war or for political, religious, or social reasons (Oxford Dictionary of English, 2010).

  3. The participants were from the following countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Bulgaria, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, India, Moldova, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Syria, and Turkey. The list of languages was: Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, English, Farsi, Filipino, French, Georgian, Hindi, Pashto, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu. Immigrant people from ethnic communities, humanitarian bodies and NGOs provided translations from either Greek or English to Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Farsi, Georgian, Romanian, and Russian. Agencies translated either from Greek or English to Armenian, Bulgarian, Filipino, French, Hindi, Pashto, Turkish, and Urdu.

  4. A one standard deviation increase in WoCce is associated with a 4.9% deterioration in physical health status (elasticity outcome).

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Acknowledgements

I appreciate the time and effort that the Editor Edwin van Wijngaarden and an anonymous reviewer dedicated to provide feedback on the manuscript. The suggestions offered by the Reviewer have been immensely helpful. The data appendix, codes and original software tables have been provided to the Journal during the submissions. I appreciate the study’s participants. The project could not have happened without collaboration and feedback kindly provided by several bodies working on immigration and human rights. Members from the Centre for Pluralist Economics at Anglia Ruskin University and from Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge have provided fruitful insights during the design of this study. I appreciate the support I received from my students at the University of Cambridge and the knowledge transfer and assistance from the Pembroke College Circle at the University of Cambridge. The knowledge transfer from the Meander Research Hub is greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Business and Law, School of Economics, Finance and Law, Centre for Pluralist Economics, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge, CB1 1PT, UK

    Nick Drydakis

  2. Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Nick Drydakis

  3. Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Nick Drydakis

  4. Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany

    Nick Drydakis

  5. Global Labor Organization, Essen, Germany

    Nick Drydakis

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  1. Nick Drydakis
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Correspondence to Nick Drydakis.

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The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of Anglia Ruskin University, UK.

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Definitions of variables

Physical health^

The European Quality of Life Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS)

Depression (or, adverse mental health)^

The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CESD-20)

Workers not having a written contract of employment (WoCce)^^

1 = Yes; 0 = no (reference)

Workers receiving a net hourly wage lower than the corresponding national minimum net hourly wage

(WoCmw)^^

1 = Yes; 0 = no (reference)

Workers experiencing insults and/or threats in their present job (WoCins)^^

1 = Yes; 0 = no (reference)

Men^^

1 = Men; 0 = women (reference)

Age^^

Continuous variable measuring individuals’ age

Higher or vocational education^^

1 = Higher or vocational education; 0 = in all the other cases (reference)

Non-refugees^^

1 = Non-refugees; 0 = refugees (reference)

Years of immigration in Greece^^

Continuous variable measuring years of immigration in Greece

Continent of origin: Africa^^

1 = Africa; 0 = Asia (reference)

Continent of origin: Europe^^

1 = Europe; 0 = Asia (reference)

Private sector^^

1 = Private sector; 0 = Public sector (reference)

Blue-collar workers^^

1 = Blue-collar workers; 0 = pink collar workers (reference)

Data period^^

1 = 2018; 0 = 2019 (reference)

Schools^^

1 = School one, two, three, four, five; 0 = School six (reference)

  1. (^)The study’s response variables
  2. (^^)The study’s predictor variables

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Drydakis, N. Adverse working conditions and immigrants’ physical health and depression outcomes: a longitudinal study in Greece. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 95, 539–556 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-021-01757-0

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