The precariat is also the only class that must rely almost solely on money wages. Unlike the salariat above them, which has employment security, good salaries, access to capital income and a widening array of non-wage benefits, such as paid holidays, pensions, sick pay and sick leave, the precariat has none. This is one reason why conventional income statistics underestimate inequality.
The problem is compounded by the fact that real wages have been stagnant or falling for the past 30 years. This is not just an American reality; across other industrialized countries, the story is the same. In addition, those in the precariat live on the edge of unsustainable debt, in which one misjudgement, illness or accident would lead to ruin.
To compound the income insecurity, the precariat has no access to rights-based state benefits. Even if they gain means-tested benefit, they fall into poverty traps, where going from meagre benefits into low-wage casual jobs means they face marginal tax rates well above what higher income groups face, acting as a disincentive to take the labor.
This is the first working class in history in which the average level of education is above the average level of labor they can expect to obtain.
We should differentiate between three entities involved. First, new corporations, such as Uber and Airbnb, are rentiers, controlling the technological apparatus, the apps. They are booming. Uber has become the most valuable American company of its generation, growing faster in its first six years than Facebook did in its first six. It is valued at $50 billion, and is operating in 311 cities in 58 countries. Airbnb, by which people rent out their homes, is valued at over $24 billion, more than twice what it was a year ago, and is operating in more than 34,000 towns and cities around the world. Many other platform companies are coming up in their wake.
These platforms are rent-takers, labor brokers, taking about 20 percent from all labor transactions. Unlike the great corporations of the past, they do not own the main means of production, the cars, homes or other equipment. They are rentiers.
The next group has received less attention. These are the labor requesters or middlemen that exist in some sectors. They, too, receive rental income; they do not do the actual labor.
The third group consists of taskers, which come in three forms. The first are in the on-demand -- or, more cruelly, "concierge" -- economy, linked to the rentier corporations by the apps, and who are neither self-employed nor employees in the classic sense of those terms.
A second type of tasker is in the crowd labor pool, an expanding part of the global labor market.
The third type of tasker consists of those who are nominally employed on a full-time basis but who are paid only for the hours in which they actually work, as defined by the broker. This is a growing ruse. One term for it is "zero-hours contract." People in such situations must be on standby at almost all times and must travel to and from workplaces without compensation, often not knowing if they will obtain paid labor or for how long.
Part of the precariat, those with little education and looking back at lost working class lifestyles, are listening to the appeals of populists and neo-fascists, who blame their insecurity on migrants, minorities or some other group that can be demonized. But part of the precariat, the more educated, is increasingly angry because they feel they have no future, and are being denied the opportunity to develop themselves through work. This is the growing part in many countries. Until 2011, they were dropping out of politics. Since the Occupy Movement, the indignados and other protests, that has begun to change. New parties in many European countries openly associate themselves with the precariat, and are developing new policies suited to it. Politicians of all hues should take notice.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/guy-sta...ing/cloud-labor-revolt_b_8392452.html
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