Library Communiveristy Open Learning Course

The Economy and Us: week 4Overview

Work, employment, jobs, income security

The Citizen’s Income

The conventional view

• • Conventional economics handles the issues of work, jobs and employment badly

– It speaks of a ‘labour market’

• in which ‘supply/demand’ relationships prevail• in which we are somewhat passive elements• we are just an ‘input’ into ‘production

• No distinction is made between ‘work’, ‘job’ and ‘employment’,

• There is a strong implication that ‘work’ is something to be minimised in favour of ‘leisure’.

– No distinction is made between leisure, rest, recreation, and enforced (and frustrating) idleness.

These are trivial treatments of serious issues.

The problem with the conventional view

“… the current system raises serious questions about what constitutes work and how it should be related to income.

Through the ages mankind has assumed that income must be the result of work for which someone else is prepared to pay.

But finding work is no longer an obvious process … it is now at the mercy of international forces and globalised capital.”

Margaret Legum, South African Economist1933- 2007

More from Margaret Legum …

“Yet we still punish people who cannot find employment.… We know that full employment in the old sense - a paid job for anyone who can and wants to have one - is a thing of the past. …

We have not worked out how to distribute income if employment is not available and feasible.”

QUB P&SD 2011/2012 5

LONG QUEUES FORMED early this morning in front of the RDS in Dublin as thousands of people headed to the Working Abroad Expo. [8 March 2012]

Hell of a way to run an economy?

‘Job creation’ as a solution …?

• Depends on the nature of the job• The ‘job’ cannot be simply making ‘things’

(‘stuff’): we cannot afford to waste people and waste resources. There are ‘tasks for our times’.

The ‘lump-of-labour’ fallacy

• The (mistaken) view that there is a limited amount of work to be done.

• It underlies the idea that job sharing and early retirement will create more ‘jobs’ – although there are many good reasons why job sharing and early retirement

is a good idea • The view that ‘there is no work around here’ is likewise nonsense.

– The task of building a lower carbon based economy based will require a large range of skills, and should provide paid employment for all for years ahead.

This is more than a sufficient challenge for the present.

Wasting people – some of the causes; the need for new thinking

• The collapse or withdrawal of a major employer

• The loss of a local source of natural resources

• Economic recession

• Poor local infrastructure• …

All these matters require new thinking

Wasting people – the consequences

• Personal energy is channeled into undesirable activities

• Ill health arises, requiring intervention• Poverty develops or worsens• Because of the lack of spending power, other

economic activity declines … thereby adding to the problem.

A wider definition of “work” – some basic points

•The word ‘work’ has many possible interpretations; many people are ‘working’ without being employed in a ‘job’. •Work is important to us, as individuals, because:

– it provides a ‘gateway’ to the formal economy, thereby providing an income through which we obtain our needs

– work provides the means by which we engage with others and make a contribution to the well-being of ourselves and the planet;

•Work should be a source of satisfaction, which engages and develops our talents.

Charles Handy

Irish author & philosopher, born 1932. Son of a Church of Ireland minister in Clane, Co Kildare.

Author of many books including The Hungry Spirit

Our talents - what does Charles Handy say they are?

The three which define ‘clever’!

• Factual • Analytic • Numerate

Others

• Linguistic• Athletic• Intuitive• Emotional • Practical• Interpersonal• Musical

Basic – or Citizen’s Income – an answer??

• A basic income is: – an unconditional payment to everyone on an individual basis,– without any means test or work requirement.

• In a few words: every person (from children to the old) would receive a weekly (or monthly) tax-free payment from the government.

• All other personal income would be taxed

• For a person who is unemployed, the basic income payment would replace income from social welfare/social security.

• For a person who is employed, the basic income payment would replace the tax-free allowance or tax-credit in the income tax system.

• Children – through their parents or guardians – would be included.

Can we afford it? Some possibilities for thought

• It would simplify the tax and social welfare system– Personal tax allowances would be reduced – and all extra

income taxed

• It would remove social welfare fraud – and the consequent need for investigation and criminal proceedings

• It could be done as part of the (urgent) requirement for monetary reform

Do we deserve it? Reflect on article 22,

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

[22] Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization,

through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and

the free development of his personality.

[Excuse the lack of gender inclusivity!]

Establishing a basic or Citizen’s Income is a task for our times

• It would create a new way of seeing ourselves as citizens

• It could release energies and creativity which are presently stifled

• It needs more thought to consider matters such as the entitlement of refugees and other incomers

• It has the potential to appeal to both the left and right in politics

• It would ‘smooth out’ economic ups-and-downs

Is this just fantasy?

• Campaigns for a Basic Income are now worldwide• Serious campaigners are fully aware of the problems

as well as the opportunities• In Ireland, there is an active citizens’ movement

(since 2011) examining the possibilities and difficulties

• To ‘hook into’ the Irish campaign, send an e-mail with your name to basic.income@nuim.ie

Final comments …

• This theme (jobs and work) brings together some of the earlier issues we have been discussing, in particular:– The ‘well-being’ economy– The reform of the monetary system– The need to see investment in a wider definition

of ‘capital’