Impacts of Covid-19 on migrant essential workers in the UK

Abstract

Covid-19 has exposed European societies’ socio-economic dependence on a chronically insecure migrant essential workforce. While risking their lives to offset the devastating effects of the pandemic, many migrant workers found themselves in precarious professional and personal circumstances (e.g. temporary zero-hours contracts, work exploitation, limited access to health and social services). This paper explores the health, social, economic, and cultural impacts of the pandemic on migrant essential workers in the UK. It focuses on the largest non-British nationality, the Polish community, who - while employed across a range of roles and sectors - are overrepresented in lower-paid essential work. By applying an intersectional approach, the paper discusses variegated and interconnected impacts of the pandemic on Polish essential workers and their largely (yet not exclusively) oppressive nature. It illustrates how Covid-19 impacts Polish essential workers in very uneven and sometimes contrasting ways depending on their individual positionalities. In doing so, it evidences that migrant workers in the most precarious circumstances are affected to the greatest degree. Methodologically, the paper draws upon 1,105 responses to an online survey, 40 interviews with Polish essential workers in the UK and 10 expert interviews with key stakeholders providing support to migrant workers in the country. It is based on the first major research project investigating lived experiences of migrant essential workers in the context of Covid-19 funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (2020-2023; www.migrantessentialworkers.com) and has recently been published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2023.2249620

Presented by

Dr Anna Gawlewicz is Lecturer at the School of Social and Political Sciences at University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She researches migrant integration, responses to hostile immigration regimes, and how urban and rural communities are shaped by migration. Her current research explores how the Covid-19 pandemic affected UK-based migrant essential workers.