Whereas the pilgrim fathers three centuries earlier may have sought religious salvation , many immigrants in the 1900s sought economic salvation: being saved from the economic dangers of starvation and unemployment.

salvation = being saved from danger, loss, or harm

Cambridge Dictionary

In your context, the appropriate antonym is therefore not religious but socio-economic.

Of the many words, I suggest privation

privation = a lack of the basic things that are necessary for an acceptable standard of living

Cambridge Dictionary

You might also consider destitution, indigence, poverty, and hardship.