Perhaps one of the most underrated issues in the western world, or in Australia at least, is that of work place casualisation. Depending on your definition of it, it could be the process of changing the nature of the work force entirely towards casual work (no contract) or casual and part time contracts. Casual work in itself is not that bad; it can be flexible for both the employee and employer, and for the employee the wages for casual work are generally higher than equivalent work done on a contract. In fact, when I was only 17 I had casual work which paid me almost $10 higher than the minimum wage for unskilled labour (around $25 an hour).
The problem with casualisation regards unemployment and underemployment. Say that there is a village with a labour force (people who are capable and willing to work, not necessarily employed or unemployed) of six people. The one store in the village employs four of those people, two on 40 hour/week full time contract and two on 20 hour/week part time contract for a combined 120 hours of labour in a week. For reasons (such as flexibility), the store owner decides to employ the two unemployed as casual employees. Also, the owner eliminates the contracts of the two part time employees and effectively transfers them to casual work.
As a result the store still retains its 120 hours of labour contribution and the village has effectively reached full employment, however if the full time employees receive the same amount of work as they were receiving before, then 40 of those hours need to be split between the four casual workers. This is where the issue of underemployment comes in. Previously, all four employees were happy with the hours they received each week. However, now only two employees are happy with the work they get, while the four casual employees are unhappy that they do not receive enough work each week.
It has not been very well publicised in the media, however articles have popped up occasionally such as [URL=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-13/more-australians-in-casual-work/4750902]this one on the ABC.[/url] The example given above ties in with the issue of casualisation as the process allows for low unemployment while simultaneously neglecting the issue of underemployment. Politicians could use such low unemployment figures as claims of policy success despite in reality there would be no relative increase in aggregate expenditure, and there could be a higher proportion of the work force that is unhappy with the amount of work (or lack of) that they receive.
Other issues regarding casualisation include that casual employee do not receive paid leave (such as for holidays or if the employee is sick), a casual employee only receives pay for the work that they do. However, with the well publicised issues of automation and mechanisation in work places some would argue that casualisation will be a necessity in the future to ensure employment. I can imagine in a few decades time that the average working week would be less than what it is now, maybe 20 hours a week instead of the typical 40 hours a week in the west today.
What do you think? Should we aim to stop casualisation or is it warranted? And what actions should we take in the future to maintain low unemployment and underemployment?
The way we currently conceive unemployment definitely does not take into account the impact that underemployment has, in fact I think it completely conceals the issue with its focus on complete lack of employment. As for a general explanation of casualisation some degree of cynicism is warranted. Intense and continued negativity in regards to the economic outlook certainly doesn't create a great desire to employ more people, nor give them more hours to the point that the benefits of working full time kick in. Being vastly more cynical however, I feel as if the move towards a casual workforce reflects a flaw in the way the regulated rights of workers are implemented. It it entirely presumed that capitalists want and will use whatever means they can to create the most profitable business they can, if casualisation means they don't have to account for the costs of full-time benefits then casualisation/underemployment becomes a way for them to improve their margins. I find it simply unfair that certain rights that workers have fought for can be so easily eroded in the name of profit and lower accountability, and that the use of casualisation can be abused by a business as a means of controlling its workers.
Even thinking about how you would remedy the problem is actually giving me a headache, so many thing could be done that treat symptoms but not necessarily the cause. Extending certain rights to the casual workforce could be a beginning, as could mandating a certain amount of hours but even then they seem ham-fisted.
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