The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class SPECIAL COVID-19 EDITION

The global market economy may eventually raise living standards everywhere – even its critics should wish that – but it is surely only ideologues who can deny that it has brought economic insecurity to many, many millions. The precariat is in the front ranks, but it has yet to find the Voice to bring its agenda to the fore.

a rise in ‘stand-by’ employment, such as on-call or zero-hours contracts, eating up the time and hopes of those left waiting around. 2

Rentier capitalism, the term appropriate for describing the current phase of global capitalism, turns the precariat into debtors generating rental income, through rents and interest on student debt, credit card and store card debt, and short-term loans.

The precariat is global. Many millions of people are living through unstable, insecure labour (paid) and work (unpaid), lacking occupational identity, losing rights of citizenship, and relying on low and fluctuating money wages.

The nostalgics are beginning to find an identity and empathy with the progressives.

This debt-driven lifestyle has created a more fragile economy vulnerable to even a minor economic shock.

Another survey in Britain found that 37 per cent of jobholders thought their job did not make any difference. Taking a detached view of jobs seems a healthy attitude.

competition from lower-cost countries is bound to put downward pressure on wages of the online

many of the jobs that are disappearing are those that require secondary or first-degree qualifications.