The construction industry has one of the highest suicide rates among professions, with an estimated 6,000 construction workers dying as a result of suicide in 2022.
I can at least anecdotally confirm this isn’t just a US issue either. Here in Germany, I met a guy at a psychiatric clinic as a fellow patient with a very similar story (in this case working in logistics, not construction, but also in a position requiring hard manual labour).
His German wasn’t all that good, so that made exploiting him easier - and while his medical bills were covered and he in theory had the legal rights to have his de-facto disability from work recognized, his work environment and pressure had made him ignore his own health and rights out of fear of not being able to support his ex-wife and children, who were everything to him. He had also internalised that his self-worth stems from his superior work ethics. In the end, the bosses/owners of his medium-small employer downsized heavily and pocketed a lot of money, but with no way to prove any illegal stuff going on in the process easily. He was dropped because he couldn’t work as self-destructively any more with his chronic injuries/issues. That broke him.
This social dynamic is appaling and probably very universal in the majority of the world.
I can at least anecdotally confirm this isn’t just a US issue either. Here in Germany, I met a guy at a psychiatric clinic as a fellow patient with a very similar story (in this case working in logistics, not construction, but also in a position requiring hard manual labour).
His German wasn’t all that good, so that made exploiting him easier - and while his medical bills were covered and he in theory had the legal rights to have his de-facto disability from work recognized, his work environment and pressure had made him ignore his own health and rights out of fear of not being able to support his ex-wife and children, who were everything to him. He had also internalised that his self-worth stems from his superior work ethics. In the end, the bosses/owners of his medium-small employer downsized heavily and pocketed a lot of money, but with no way to prove any illegal stuff going on in the process easily. He was dropped because he couldn’t work as self-destructively any more with his chronic injuries/issues. That broke him.
This social dynamic is appaling and probably very universal in the majority of the world.