The rise of the 'precariat' and the decline of living standards

It is of little surprise that Guy Standing opts for an approach based on rights, entitlement and universalism and justifies his approach by relying on five principles:

...a policy… is socially just if (1) it improves the security of the most insecure … (2) it does not impose controls on some groups that are not imposed on the most free groups … (3) it strengthens rights and does not increase the discretionary power of those dealing with citizens … (4) it promotes the capacity to pursue work that is dignifying and rewarding … and (5) it does not impose ecologically damaging externalities (pp. 123-124).

Standing then proceeds to examine 29 separate aspects of life which impinge on those experiencing precarious, casual, insecure employment and underemployment as well as those eking out a living on today's welfare benefits. By utilising his analysis of what brought us to this point in history and viewing each aspect through the prism of his five principles he builds a useful charter of rights which those in the precariat might do well to fight for.

Take for example Article 25, which argues that:

For workers and the precariat to have an adequate income something like a basic income is essential… The amount should be sufficient to cover basic material needs… for that reason it should be linked to median income, so that it does not freeze a minority in poverty… it must be paid individually…in cash…unconditionally, without behavioural rules… (and) must be universal (pp. 317-318).

He goes on to suggest a moral reason for a basic income is that the wealth of anyone is much more the result of our forebears' endeavours than our own (p.318-319).

He declares that subsidies to business are distorting, inefficient and fail to assist poor people whereas a universal basic income provides certainty to the low paid and would encourage increased participation in employment because workers are never worse off under such an income guarantee system. "The real disincentive to labour is means-tested benefits, as poverty and precarity traps make it irrational to move from benefits to low-wage labour (p.324).

Guy Standing's book deserves to be read by anyone who wants to understand how we got from the egalitarianism and optimism of the mid-1970s to where we are now and by all who hanker after a citizenship based on equality, mutuality and freedom.