Examining double precarity from the narratives of immigrants in Hong Kong—a qualitative study
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Precarity is attracting growing scholarly attention, yet the intersecting effects of multiple forms of precarity remain underexamined. The study draws on interviews with 26 Chinese migrants in Hong Kong to document employment precarity (e.g., no pay, limited benefits) and housing precarity (e.g., insecure tenancies, and unaffordability), which leads to employment precarity. Moreover, a “double-exploitation” is recorded, as migrants’ surplus value is extracted in both realms. It also demonstrates the socially reproductive relationships between the two precarities. Hence, dual precarities create circuits that dualize between educated migrants adopting a high-road strategy and less educated migrants adopting a low-road one.
Author: Chi Yuen Lai
Institution: Hong Kong Baptist University
Language: English
Topic: Migration and Labor Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,650
OpenAlex ID: W7225826432