I don't think there's anything inherent in construction that is causing a higher suicide rate.
Construction labourer is a job just about anyone can get and male dominated.
I've hired some people who seemed like they weren't in a great place. It's low skill and it doesn't hurt to take a chance on someone and hope the stability will help get them on the right track.
I haven't had any coworkers take their own lives, but I could see someone at the end of the rope being more likely to find a job on a construction site instead of a dentists office
A huge part of the issue(From what I have seen on my years working insurance) are injuries. A day laborer lives by the day, has little to no savings and has an accident or gets hurt. They know two weeks off + hospital fees will bankrupt them, so they go to work with their bodies already in a bad state, which only furthers their existing injuries, until they either fall into despair, finally seek attention and their lack of support networks makes the situation so dire, the only option they can see is a noose.
Heartbreaking really. That is one of the reasons why I left that job market, I simply could not bear telling more people, the corporate version of "You've ran out of money, good luck with your cancer though".
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.
They always go after employees who don't obey. Arbitrary decisions are made to crack the whip and remind employees that they're slaves to management. Just another reason why we need unions.
Are they not unionized? If this problem is caused by unreasonably long hours doing unreasonably hard work with no paid vacation, as the article suggests, all of the "trying to solve this" bullshit coming out of employers' PR departments isn't going to do anything near as much as shorter hours, paid time off, more staff, longer project timelines, and job protections.
In my young adulthood I dug ditches and framed houses for 8 hours per day in 110 degree heat. We got 3 breaks two 10 minute breaks and one 30 minute lunch. It was... unpleasant.
So what's stopping the workers from saying no? If they have labor shortages then the job market should be favorable to the workers as you gotta be the most attractive employer, which would be those that don't abuse that law and overwork their employees. It's not like they can force people to work.
Just watch the reports it's happening across the USA in different states. This is why I'm a huge supporter of make sure to take care of your health because your employer can replace you.
I don't understand how legislators can look at the fact that their country already works longer hours than anyone else in Europe and conclude that the problem is that they aren't working enough hours
They don't. They get paid to sorta pretend enough to just make laws, and after enough horrible decisions, they retire with half the bank or die owning all of it.
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