Showing posts with label casual. Show all posts
Showing posts with label casual. Show all posts

Guaranteed Minimum Income is Fairyland Stuff

SOCIOLOGY
Many in Australia are calling for a guaranteed minimum wage whether a person earns it or not. If a low paid job for say 30 hours a week is below this minimum then the state will top it up. This sounds fair at first instance, but there is the problem of government income to pay for this and the world economic environment that thrives on low wages.
Guaranteed income in Australia
If every country in the world did it, the system would be viable. Unfortunately, humans are greed driven. We are nice to each other. This in only to a degree, however. Man is torn between egalitarianism and competition. The Star Trek world where only those who want to work abandon their sloth and actually go to work is far off in the future.

When I was young the dole was quite high. It was meant for times between jobs to maintain family income. Indeed, in England those who paid more tax got a higher rate of unemployment. This was definitely not egalitarian. The Australian benefit has fallen way behind the cost of living - the lowest in the OECD. It is only food money now. Forget putting a roof over you're head. It can't be done, unless you are female with eight dependent children.

The question has also been made about voting rights. If you have no abode you do not have the right to receive unemployment benefits nor can you vote in elections. The marginalized get more marginalized.

Paul Keating, ironically a Labor politician, brought in compulsory superannuation with the aim of virtually eliminating the old age pension. This concept has gone by the board now with a series of conservative governments messing around with the rules to reduce accumulation of capital for retirement. The idea of allowing drawing of superannuation to purchase houses was an idea to 'feel the waters". It was quietly dumped.

There has always been a pool of very poor people to fuel economic growth. They are essentially needed for manual or repetitive tasks to generate income for the already rich. The poor do drive the world economy even today. If this pool did not exist, consumers would have to pay a higher price for goods. It would make for a better world to live in.
◆ Sociology by Ty Buchanan ◆
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The Part-time and Casual Culture

Despite the boom times in Australia which has finally peaked, a significant proportion of working Australians do not have permanent full-time positions. This is because both sides of politics have freed-up the hiring contract between employers and employees.

The claim that bank holiday and annual leave pay is included in the casual rate is rubbish. People are hired for a per hour fee. No moneys are set aside for rest day payment.  Part-time employees can be called in to work at any time of the day or night.

Even in management the market is distorted. Tests to find the "ideal" personality to do the job have never been tested in the real world. They have been written by university people who teach and must write a certain number of papers for "respected" journals.

Governments are reducing employment in the public sector. When they have to get the work done in future by the private sector the real cost will become apparent.  While contractors offering specific skills do well, many are not making a profit.  Many private contractors, for example truck drivers, run at a loss. As they work, their debt to the banks increases. Ultimately they may have to sell their homes to clear their debt. Furthermore, they have to take drugs to stay awake because they drive day and night. In effect they are forced to break the law.

Today, production runs are getting shorter. This is due to improved production-line machinery. If the line is run for a few years the world market can be flooded. Restricting production by monopolies becomes a genuine profit maximizing policy.

The future job market looks spasmodic and uncertain. The forced superannuation policy of government will break down as the newly unemployed take early payments from their retirement fund to survive in the present.
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Conservation
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Worry Over Job Security Increases With Casual Work

Gone are the days of local business monopolies where shops, for example, had a higher profit margin so they could keep employees in secure employment for decades. In the past shopping centers didn't exist and a firm had a local licence. Only one type of business could operate in a regional center. If a shop had the fish licence and decided to sell only fish, no fish and chips, you as a customers had to go without a quick hot meal.

The proportion of casual workers is increasing every year. Just how these employees manage to build up capital for retirement is anyone's guess. Holiday pay is said to be built into casual rates, but this is a myth. Such workers hardly ever take a day off because they will not get any pay.

People worry more over job security than anything else. Despite all the troubles in the world, Macquarie University found employees experience more anxiety over losing their jobs than any other issue. This affects men more than women. Seventy per cent of men worry compared to 60 per cent of women. Young people suffered most: eighty per cent were concerned.
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