Dirty, Dangerous and Demeaning
Encyclopedia
Dirty, Dangerous and Demeaning (often Dirty, Dangerous and Demanding or Dirty, Dangerous and Difficult), also known as the 3Ds, is an American neologism derived from an Asian concept, and refers to certain kinds of labor often performed by unionized blue-collar worker
Blue-collar worker
A blue-collar worker is a member of the working class who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled, manufacturing, mining, construction, mechanical, maintenance, technical installation and many other types of physical work...

s.

The term originated from the Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 expression 3K: kitanai, kiken, and kitsui, and has subsequently gained widespread use, particularly regarding labor done by migrant workers.

Typically, any task, regardless of industry, can qualify as a 3D job. These jobs can bring higher wages due to a shortage of willing qualified individuals and in many world regions are filled by migrant workers looking for higher wages. For many migrant workers, engaging in high risk, low status work can be a way to escape poverty - captured by a line in the Irish folk song Finnegan's Wake, "to rise in the world he carried a hod
Brick hod
A brick hod is a three-sided box for carrying bricks or other construction materials, often mortar. It bears a long handle and is carried over the shoulder...

".

Economic status

Traditionally, workers in 3D professions are well paid, due to the undesirability of the work, and the resulting need to pay higher wages to attract workers. This has allowed the uneducated and unskilled to earn a living wage by foregoing comfort, personal safety and social status
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...

. This concept proves itself in the economic theory of quantity supplied and quantity demanded (see Quantity adjustment
Quantity adjustment
In economics, the concept of quantity adjustment refers to one possible result of supply and demand disequilibrium in a market, either due to or in the absence of external constraints on the market...

), the wages paid to these workers would always be higher than other wages due to the work's undesirability.

However, where there are significant numbers of workers unable to attract other kinds of work, or willing to perform these jobs for low wages, as with high unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...

 or poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

 driven labour migration, these jobs are not well paid. Large scale international labor migration
Human migration
Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...

, from developing
Developing country
A developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...

 to developed countries
Developed country
A developed country is a country that has a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue...

 since the late 19th century and early 20th century has provided a pool of migrants willing to undertake employment for lower wages than native residents. Higher wages in developed countries are a strong 'pull' factor in international migration, and thus while a migrant worker is willing to accept a comparatively low-wage for a 3D job in a developed country it may mean a significant increase in wages compared to her originating country.

Prominent current examples of such migration include Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

 entertainment and sex workers who migrate to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, and of Indians and Pakistanis going to the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 to work in the construction industry. In the United States, 3D occupations once filled by Irish and German immigrants, are today held by many Latin Americans
Latin Americans
Latin Americans are the citizens of the Latin American countries and dependencies. Latin American countries are multi-ethnic, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds. As a result, some Latin Americans don't take their nationality as an ethnicity, but identify themselves with...

. The highest paying work available to these often unskilled and uneducated (or their foreign certificates of skills and education are not recognized) immigrants is work that is of lower social status, and has a higher risk of injury.

These workers are susceptible to exploitation
Exploitation
This article discusses the term exploitation in the meaning of using something in an unjust or cruel manner.- As unjust benefit :In political economy, economics, and sociology, exploitation involves a persistent social relationship in which certain persons are being mistreated or unfairly used for...

, and without representation can have a difficult time maintaining fair working wages . Since the beginning of the labor movement, immigrant workers in 3D jobs have formed the backbone of many labor unions.

Risks

As the name indicates, dirty, dangerous and demanding work can impose severe physical and mental costs on workers. There is often a risk of early retirement due to injury, general joint depletion or mental fatigue. After witnessing the constant physical and mental injury to coworkers or even death, the stress can cause mental fatigue and post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...

.

External links

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