New technology and the rise of the independent worker is a factor for creating “working poors” – people that work hard a substantial amount of their time but do not earn enough to support their families. This excellent post addresses the issue in an interesting manner: ‘Work please but poverty, no thanks: how can we avoid the rise in the working poor?‘.
“The growth of new forms of self-employment provides an additional dimension to the in-work poverty challenge. In almost all countries, in-work poverty is higher among the self-employed. A recent study on self-employment showed that there is greater polarization in incomes for the self-employed than for employees.”
This is clearly a challenge that needs to be addressed and that our current employment system underestimates. On the other hand it was Henry Ford who spontaneously increase the wages in his factory to create the virtuous circle of the Industrial Revolution and the associated consumption and he did not need any regulatory incentives. How can we make the operators of the Collaborative Age that it is in their interest to guarantee minimum earnings for their contributors?
“In any case, it is vital not to underestimate the risk of allowing in-work poverty to continue unabated – when people feel that they are losing out despite playing by the rules, the risks to society extend beyond precariousness to decreased social cohesion and increased populism.“
