Beyond Individual Hardship: A Multidimensional Framework for Understanding Migrant Worker Vulnerability in Industrial Cities

Migrant-worker vulnerability is often discussed through isolated problems such as low wages, occupational hazards or social exclusion. Such a fragmented view may obscure how employment practices, institutional encounters, language barriers and social support deficits accumulate in the lives of workers. This paper develops a multidimensional analytical framework from the reported factor-analysis results in the supplied study of migrant workers in Coimbatore District. The source study reports interviews with 600 workers and a seven-component solution accounting for 72.420% of total variance. The largest component explains 32.407% and includes exclusion or avoidance by local residents, an unfavourable work environment, excessive working hours and limited care or assistance. Other components group low wages and health concerns; job hazards and negative treatment; financial and workplace inequities; employee misconduct and language barriers; hostility and limited support; and relative occupational risk and isolation. Rather than treating these reported components as causal mechanisms, the paper interprets them as a preliminary map of correlated vulnerabilities and proposes a rights-based, multilevel research agenda. The manuscript includes source-derived analysis tables, a methodological appraisal, propositions for future testing and an actionable framework for employer and policy evaluation. It does not claim new primary data or independent statistical estimation. For a journal submission, the framework must be strengthened through verified literature, transparent measurement and, ideally, an independently collected or reanalysed dataset.