Precariat: the new social class of enslaved youth

The precariat is a modern term conceptualized by the economist Guy Standing in 2011, when the world economic crisis had consolidated and worsened in the so-called First World or developed economies such as Spain, France or even Germany, the economic engine of Europe.

Somehow, the precariat stands as a new emerging class, a new mass phenomenon that requires, according to experts, urgent care to be able to resolve potential crises for the following decades. It is no longer just a matter of economic needs of individual people, but the complexity will come from not being able to guarantee a minimum of social welfare.

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What exactly does the precariat consist of?

Literally, the precariat is a hybrid between the concepts of precariousness and the proletariat, given that it is a working class of the middle or lower class, whose economic aspirations are not seen reciprocated with his success in finding work, and he lives in the instability currently generated by the working market.

Precarious for the following reasons: This new class faces unprecedented job insecurity, to a volatility of the labor market and to a lack of definition and classification of a specific identity as a working class.

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Causes that have given rise to the phenomenon

Some expert economists and political analysts such as the aforementioned guy Standing, father of the definition, the renowned doctor in economy Santiago Niño Becerra or Professor José María Gay de Liébana among others, point directly to the capitalist system in general, and to the Globalization system in particular.

In a certain sense, the precariat ranks even below the poor who work long hours and the force relationship of work/salary remuneration has a mismatch, since in some cases it does not charge what is stipulated by law, as occurs in the case of the scholarship holders or those workers who need to do multiple jobs and who, even in such a case, cannot reach a minimum to afford life.

World Globalization has caused this new social class to spread throughout the globe, for its asymmetric economic policies, its extremely harsh working conditions in some cases and its policy of free movement of people; Migrations are another mechanism for the perpetuation of the precariat.

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The 3 types of the precariat

Within this worrisome phenomenon, there are different types of classification according to the nature of the precariat. They are next.

1. young immigrants

This group responds to that generation of young people who have had to emigrate from their countries of origin due to lack of social guarantees such as public health, education and, of course, lack of supply of job. The problem is that the destination country has the same complexity.

2. Young people with university degrees

In this case the situation is even more serious. Here the most prepared generations in history have an education and knowledge that exceeds or exceeds the needs of the labor market. That is, they become so excellent in their abilities that they are excluded from the professional offer. In this context, their reaction to the job outlook can be one of great frustration or, at the other extreme, a feeling of resignation that Bertrand Regader defined as 'satisfied slave syndrome'.

3. the seniors

It is surely the most urgent case to attend to. Seniors are those elderly individuals, between 40 and 55 years of age, who have stayed out of the labor market by not meeting the requirements demanded by the economy modern (technologies, displacements).

What do these groups have in common?

As we have already pointed out previously, the precariat is a socio-economic group that is characterized by distinctive features: job instability (not manage to have permanent contracts), the remuneration for their work lacks social guarantees (they are paid below what is legal in most cases) and they are also deprived of some civil privileges such as paid vacations or days off that the rest of society enjoys.

Unlike the typical working class at the time of the industrial revolution, the precariat is even less certain of finding work, and the areas in which they can work are so unstable that in a matter of a few years their skills may be insufficient for the job they have been occupying.

Universal income as a possible and only solution

In different meetings of economic circles, world development forums and other events of a socio-political, and all national governments admit that they do not know how to face the next challenge of S.XXI. The world population is increasing human strength is becoming expendable and resources are scarce.

And it is at this point that politicians come up against an often insurmountable wall when it comes to addressing the problem, and it is that of convincing financial and business entities of the need to make a change in the model in the production.

Globalization responds to capitalism, which at the same time is nourished by a neoliberal ideology that fosters fierce competition at the national level, both in the strictly professional sphere and in the staff. This results in lower wages., greater durability in the working day and a constant transformation of the labor market, which implies constant updating (and which is not always possible) by the worker.

In this sense, Standing, the author of the book The precariat, a new social class, visualizes a violent and dark future for this phenomenon, appealing to a single solution: the universal basic income as a new fundamental right that can guarantee a minimum of monetary income for those individuals who identify themselves within this socio-economic group.