Unequal Burdens: Gendered and Socioeconomic Dimensions of Occupational Health Among Hong Kong’s Informal Waste Pickers
Abstract
:1. Introduction
The Context in Hong Kong
2. Methods
2.1. Data and Sample
2.2. Measurement
2.3. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Demographic
3.2. Comparative Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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N | % | ||
---|---|---|---|
Age | 50 or under | 19 | 4.3 |
50–59 | 80 | 11.8 | |
60–69 | 256 | 37.9 | |
70–79 | 249 | 35.5 | |
80 or above | 69 | 10.2 | |
Gender | Female | 550 | 81.4 |
Male | 126 | 18.6 |
N | Mean | SD | |
---|---|---|---|
Income earned from informal waste picking/month | 642 | 1415.81 | 2009.40 |
Total income/month | 641 | 5880.88 | 3984.33 |
GAD-2 | 658 | 0.82 | 1.54 |
PHQ-2 | 657 | 0.86 | 1.48 |
Male | Female | t | p | Cohen’s d | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N | M | SD | N | M | SD | ||||
total working time (years) | 47 | 8.64 | 7.14 | 261 | 10.13 | 10.12 | −0.970 | 0.333 | 0.155 |
working day/week | 125 | 5.87 | 1.65 | 528 | 5.77 | 1.77 | 0.566 | 0.572 | 0.058 |
working turn/day | 119 | 3.02 | 2.98 | 530 | 2.54 | 2.34 | 1.898 | 0.058 | 0.191 |
working hours/day | 121 | 5.96 | 4.20 | 519 | 5.10 | 3.88 | 2.159 | 0.031 | 0.217 |
sale weight/turn | 101 | 36.87 | 29.14 | 460 | 28.68 | 26.47 | 2.602 | 0.010 | 0.301 |
sale money/turn | 122 | 48.01 | 60.34 | 534 | 32.57 | 28.26 | 2.758 | 0.007 | 0.398 |
sale money/month | 118 | 1757.39 | 1925.10 | 511 | 1333.31 | 2023.11 | 2.071 | 0.019 | 0.212 |
monthly sale money/monthly income | 109 | 0.37 | 0.32 | 478 | 0.31 | 0.34 | 1.701 | 0.045 | 0.179 |
Male | Female | F | p | η2 | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
<5000 | >5000 | <5000 | >5000 | ||||||||||||
N | M ± SD | 95%CI | N | M ± SD | 95%CI | N | M ± SD | 95%CI | N | M ± SD | 95%CI | ||||
total working time (years) | 22 | 8.68 ± 5.93 | [6.04–11.32] | 25 | 8.60 ± 5.93 | [5.22–11.97] | 136 | 9.54 ± 10.81 | [7.70–11.37] | 113 | 11.13 ± 9.5 | [9.36–12.90] | 0.899 | 0.442 | 0.09 |
working day/week | 56 | 6.11 ± 1.61 | [5.68–6.54] | 62 | 5.68 ± 1.72 | [5.24–6.12] | 277 | 5.75 ± 1.81 | [5.53–5.96] | 232 | 5.78 ± 1.75 | [5.55–6.00] | 0.764 | 0.515 | 0.04 |
working turn/day | 52 | 2.98 ± 3.09 | [2.11–3.84] | 60 | 3.13 ± 3.03 ^ | [2.34–3.91] | 279 | 2.56 ± 2.33 | [2.28–2.83] | 231 | 2.44 ± 2.11 # | [2.17–2.72] | 1.749 | 0.156 | 0.08 |
working hours/day | 55 | 6.25 ± 4.41 ^ | [5.06–7.44] | 60 | 5.89 ± 4.13 ^ | [4.82–6.96] | 275 | 5.42 ± 4.01 | [4.94–5.90] | 224 | 4.73 ± 3.71 *# | [4.24–5.22] | 3.127 | 0.025 | 0.015 |
recycling sale weight/turn (kg) | 43 | 32.25 ± 26.54 | [24.08–40.42] | 52 | 42.09 ± 31.0 × | [33.44–50.74] | 246 | 24.29 ± 24.07 ^# | [21.26–27.31] | 199 | 35.04 ± 28.6 × | [31.04–39.04] | 9.663 | <0.001 | 0.051 |
money from recycling sale/turn | 55 | 34.92 ± 36.16 # | [25.14–44.69] | 60 | 53.78 ± 50.37 *×^ | [40.76–66.78] | 287 | 28.16 ± 24.27 #^ | [25.34–30.98] | 228 | 39.09 ± 32.18 #× | [34.88–43.28] | 12.834 | <0.001 | 0.058 |
money from recycling sale/month | 52 | 1304.42 ± 1089.1 # | [1001.21–1607.63] | 59 | 2248.31 ± 2402.38 *× | [1622.24–2874.36] | 272 | 991.67 ± 1063.33 #^ | [1437.76–2163.49] | 223 | 1800.63 ± 2749.64 × | [1276.26–1600.81] | 10.385 | <0.001 | 0.049 |
Male | Female | t | p | Cohen’s d | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N | M ± SD | 95%CI | N | M ± SD | 95%CI | ||||
PHQ-2 | 123 | 0.65 ± 1.22 | [0.43–0.86] | 534 | 0.91 ± 1.53 | [0.78–1.04] | −2.056 | 0.041 | 0.176 |
GAD-2 | 122 | 0.56 ± 1.34 | [0.32–0.80] | 536 | 0.88 ± 1.57 | [0.71–0.94] | −2.320 | 0.011 | 0.209 |
Male | Female | F | p | η2 | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
<5000 | >5000 | <5000 | >5000 | ||||||||||||
N | M ± SD | 95%CI | N | M ± SD | 95%CI | N | M ± SD | 95%CI | N | M ± SD | 95%CI | ||||
Depression (PHQ-2) | 57 | 0.71 ± 1.16 | [0.41–1.02] | 61 | 0.60 ± 1.32 | [0.26–0.94] | 288 | 1.01 ± 1.64 | [0.81–1.20] | 229 | 0.82 ± 1.40 | [0.64–1.01] | 1.723 | 0.161 | 0.08 |
Anxiety (GAD-2) | 57 | 0.54 ± 1.26 × | [0.25–0.88] | 60 | 0.63 ± 1.47 × | [0.87–1.27] | 289 | 1.07 ± 1.73 *#^ | [0.51–0.87] | 230 | 0.69 ± 1.35 × | [0.51–0.87] | 3.961 | 0.008 | 0.018 |
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Chan, S.-M.; Tang, Y.-K.; Xu, H.; Zhang, J.; Kwok, K.; Tam, W.-Y.; Tang, W.-H. Unequal Burdens: Gendered and Socioeconomic Dimensions of Occupational Health Among Hong Kong’s Informal Waste Pickers. Healthcare 2025, 13, 683. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13060683
Chan S-M, Tang Y-K, Xu H, Zhang J, Kwok K, Tam W-Y, Tang W-H. Unequal Burdens: Gendered and Socioeconomic Dimensions of Occupational Health Among Hong Kong’s Informal Waste Pickers. Healthcare. 2025; 13(6):683. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13060683
Chicago/Turabian StyleChan, Siu-Ming, Yuen-Ki Tang, Heng Xu, Jasmine Zhang, Kim Kwok, Wai-Yiu Tam, and Wing-Him Tang. 2025. "Unequal Burdens: Gendered and Socioeconomic Dimensions of Occupational Health Among Hong Kong’s Informal Waste Pickers" Healthcare 13, no. 6: 683. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13060683
APA StyleChan, S.-M., Tang, Y.-K., Xu, H., Zhang, J., Kwok, K., Tam, W.-Y., & Tang, W.-H. (2025). Unequal Burdens: Gendered and Socioeconomic Dimensions of Occupational Health Among Hong Kong’s Informal Waste Pickers. Healthcare, 13(6), 683. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13060683