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Rise of the ‘precariat,’ the global scourge of precarious jobs

June 1, 2015

Rise of the ‘precariat,’ the global scourge of precarious jobs

Barely one in four of the global workforce has a stable job, UN reports

With relatively little notice, the world passed a modern milestone recently, one that makes any yearning for more stable times seem very farfetched — the global jobless total passed 200 million.

To help put that in perspective, that’s 30 million more without work than at the height of the global recession in 2008, according to the UN report that crunched the numbers.

This is a shocker on its own. But even more ominous is the growing precariousness of the job situation for those that have them, according to the UN study, “The changing nature of jobs.”

It warns of “widespread insecurity” spreading as momentum shifts from societies with full-time jobs to shaky short-term employment across much of the globe.

Another scary fact the study unearths is how many people these days have stable work contracts of any kind. That’s barely one in four of the globe’s workforce.

The overwhelming majority of people on the planet struggle with temporary work, informal or illegal jobs, long spells of unemployment and unpaid family work.

In other words, most are caught in a disadvantageous spiral where exploitation is a real risk.

 

Wave of refugees

Want more perspective on how today’s world works? Much of temporary work simply can’t sustain families anymore and one quarter of the world’s workforce earns around $2 a day.

As the UN report notes, mass unemployment and underemployment puts steady downward pressure on wages — along with increasing child labour, estimated conservatively at 73 million, many working in near slave conditions.

 

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