Covid-19, social class and work experience in Germany: inequalities in work-related health and economic risks

ABSTRACT

The study analyses inequalities in how German employees experience corona-related health and economic risks at the workplace. A social class framework is used to locate both types of risks within the vertically stratified and horizontally differentiated employment structure. A mixed-methods approach is applied based on a workforce survey (n = 9737) and qualitative interviews (n = 27), from the early stage of the pandemic (April to May 2020). Logistic regressions triangulated with interview analysis reveal striking occupational inequalities in employees’ corona experience: The work-life burdens of Covid-19 hit social classes quite unequally. Three findings are particularly noteworthy. First, health and economic risk experiences are primarily located in different horizontal segments of the employment structure. Perceived health risks are highest for the classes based on the interpersonal work logic, whereas the independent classes and the technical classes experience higher economic risks. Second, risk experience among wage earners is vertically stratified. In each horizontal segment, members of the lower classes report significantly higher health and economic risks than the upper classes. Third, although health and economic risks have their centres in different horizontal segments, the risks overlap among production and service workers at the lower end of the employment structure; thus, amplifying pre-existing class inequalities.

KEYWORDS:

• Covid-19
• social class
• work and employment
• inequality
• economic risks
• health risks

Acknowledgements

We thank the editors, two anonymous reviewers, Yannick Kalff and Jennifer Olson for their valuable comments. We thank Hendrik Brunsen und Nadine Kleine for their research support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hajo Holst

Hajo Holst is a professor of economic sociology at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. His research looks at the changes in work and employment, social inequality, financialization, digitalization and sustainability transitions. He has published on these issues in Work, Employment and Society (WES), European Journal of Industrial Relations, and Zeitschrift für Soziologie (ZfS).

Agnes Fessler

Agnes Fessler is a research associate at the department of economic sociology at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. Empirical research on social inequality became one of her main fields of interest since working in Vienna, Austria at the institute of higher studies (IHS) with the higher education social survey. Her research also addresses work and organizational change, sustainability transitions and qualitative methods.

Steffen Niehoff

Steffen Niehoff is a research assistant at the department of economic sociology at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. His research and teaching focuses on industrial work groups, social inequality and quantitative methods.