Sanitized boundaries, sanitized homes: COVID-19 and the sporadic hyper-precarity of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper explores the “sporadic hyper-precarity” encountered by migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong when the city was hit by the Omicron outbreaks in early 2022. Migrant workers have long been suffering from job insecurity and structural vulnerability due to the contractization and flexibilization of work. The paper discusses how this structural vulnerability came to intersect with the health risks induced by the COVID pandemic. Adding to the debates of the structural precarity characterizing migrant work, we will further interrogate how workers are also susceptible to “sporadic hyper-precarity” – the kind of sporadic risks, uncertainty, vulnerabilities and stigmatization at times of crisis. The paper will elaborate on the “sanitized divide” and “care divide” between local families and domestic workers that has resulted in the unequal treatment of workers.