Psychological Well-Being of Migrant Domestic Workers Before and After Arrival in the Hong Kong workplace

• In Event: 50260 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 4: Health and Mental Health Across Migrant and Asian Communities

Abstract

Migrant workers play a crucial role in migration patterns in the global South. Despite the essential role migrant workers play in remitting financial resources back home, studies have indicated that they experience lower levels of psychological well-being compared to locals. It remains unclear whether this lower well-being pre-existed before their migration. This information is significant as the occupation itself may be regarded as a professional hazard if the well-being of migrants deteriorates post-relocation. Our study utilizes recent two-wave data on migrant domestic workers, collected both before and after their migration to Hong Kong in 2024. Hong Kong has been a primary hub for migrant domestic workers in East Asia for several decades. The results indicate that migrant domestic workers experience a significant decline in psychological well-being post-migration. The findings suggest that maintaining contact with family members in the Philippines, especially spouses and children, is critical to the psychological well-being of migrant domestic workers. While increased contact with spouses is associated with improved psychological well-being, more contact with children may have the opposite effect, possibly due to the emotional strain of being a mother separated from her children.

Authors

• Zheming Cao, University of Hong Kong

• Eric Fong, University of Hong Kong