What we can do about income disparity ⚖️
You ever think about how society benefits most from people it values least?
This week’s artwork is “Sea Dance”, by Jacqueline Hick (20th C), courtesy of WikiArt.
Idea for dystopian fiction: a world in decline, run by power hungry corporations who get away with everything and earn more than most countries. The symbols of respect and value are those who earn the most money The day to day operations of the world are run by the most under-appreciated, undervalued, and underpaid people in the world.
If that sounds fishy, it's because that's not dystopian fiction - it's just late-stage capitalism we all suffer under!
Yep, it’s one of those weeks. I was reflecting on my walk to the gym one night how everything that remained open - restaurants, fast food joints, pubs, ice creameries - was staffed by (mostly) children. Same at the mall on weekends. Kids that should be at home, enjoying their evenings before school the next day were instead having to surrender their nights to make minimum wage.
What's worse, these are the people that have to deal with anyone who walks through those doors. Drunken loudmouths late at night; precariously housed people; people with mental health disorders; folks with special needs. Everything from someone who needs a little extra support, to an inconsiderate customer, or a physically aggressive drunkard is frying the nervous system of a 15 year old who definitely hasn't been trained for this.
Back to the things I saw on my walk. Staff were mostly women - and women of colour. People who are already at the receiving end of abuse more than say, I dunno, white men. Ever wondered how it feels for a couple of teenagers to be working alone in an ice-creamery late at night when anyone could come in and harass you, and you can't go anywhere cause you're at work? Probably not what people mean when they say getting a job is good for kids.
I digress. If we're not making teenagers deal with it, then it's usually other marginalised groups - immigrants, refugees, people with disabilities, people in the welfare system. Based on our economic system, you would imagine that to get people to do the "grimy" jobs that "most people" don't want to do, you would offer to pay them more.
Ha! No chance!
People who often cannot find other jobs are shoehorned into precarious work and undervalued jobs, at minimum wage, and forced to deal with things (and stress) that "white collar jobs" never have to. They are looked down on, and their work is seen less valuable. It is often monotonous work, with no scope for creativity; a leftover of Taylorism and its production line.
Because of how capitalism is designed, there will always be inequality in the system. Mostly, that comes out as income disparity - the difference in people’s wages varying wildly. However, we can’t overlook the unpaid care work or emotional labour performed disproportionately by women (75% globally!!).
Work can be fulfilling, satisfying, and full of opportunities.
Work can be joyful.
My gripe isn't with work as a concept - it is that we live within an economic system where we have no choice but to sell our labour to survive.
Consider that care workers (such as social workers or aged-care workers) work night and day, paid to care about those that society wishes to keep invisible and which otherwise tries to diminish. Educators are paid to care about children while their parents spend all their hours working to be able to afford to have children. Postal workers. Public transit staff. Even truckers who keep countries running so that we can all have enough to eat and get the products we wanted yesterday delivered immediately.
We - society - rely on and take for granted that these people will continue to do this. That’s why the nurses or educator’s strikes in Australia are so difficult. Staff need better conditions and pay, but know that they can’t leave the people in their care un-cared for to go on strike. Th government knows this, too. See the dilemma?
Essential workers, those on factory floors, and even those in retail or hospitality kept entire societies afloat during the pandemic years. Not because they are "better" or more "moral" people - because they had no choice but to sell their labour to survive. Not even a global pandemic has changed public opinion or funding for these jobs, and society at large acted like it was nothing.
Reality check: I had the enormous privilege of binging "Gilmore Girls" on my couch during lockdown, rather than having to put my own health at risk to go to a workplace for minimum wage. Many did not have that luxury. For the unseen, unappreciated people who keep the lights on for our society, I am brought to wrath just thinking about the disparity. If you have any experience with jobs like this, you might feel the same.
In a snappy soundbite: our economy is most reliant on those who society values - and cares for - the least. Ironically, these are the people we expect to care the most.
The income inequality we see in the US, UK, or Australia drives people into poverty, erodes trust in social or political groups, pushes people into precarious or unsafe work, fosters scarcity, and can lead to binary thinking, and when left unchecked, could lead to growth of extreme ideologies or civil unrest.
In a Global North country like Australia, we have children keeping most retail stores running when they're not spending 8 hours a day at school. There's newly arrived people who have no choice but to degrade themselves into taking whatever work they can. International students are put into illegal or unsafe work situations because of the high cost of study we charge them. Marginalised groups like Indigenous Australians or those with disabilities have fewer opportunities to engage in fulfilling and fairly-paid work.
While it would be easier to wallow in the mire for longer, I will briefly outline what alternatives we have. As with any systemic change, there is no "one thing" that will fix it. Any enduring alternative to capitalist structures will need to encompass alternative mindsets, policy, organisational structures, education, and workplace practices. To get you thinking about it, here are a few (not unrelated) threads to pull on. Of course, I'm all for burning it down and starting again, but I'm also tempering that with a healthy side of realism.
Maybe the government just legally raises wages and benefits?
Reform the income tax system to tax the super-rich
By establishing higher tax rates for higher income brackets (I’m talking millionaires and billionaires), money can be redistributed to where it's needed most. In Scandinavian countries, tax rates can be as high at 70%, with all that funding reflected in the infrastructure, education, and welfare systems. Hell, I paid almost 50% in the Netherlands (which kinda sucked) and I'm no millionaire. Worth it for the bike lanes and train system, though, they are *chef's kiss*.
Introduce salary caps as a ratio between highest and lowest paid staff
For example, the top-earning person cannot earn more than 10 times that of the lowest earner.
Abolish tax havens
For reference, over half of Fortune 500 companies are estimated to operate in tax havens.
Create a wealth tax
US Senator Elizabeth Warren recently proposed that households pay an annual 2% tax on all assets above $50 million, and a 3% tax on every dollar of net worth above $1 billion.
Unionise and bargain for improved pay and working conditions.
Create Universal Basic Income (UBI) to have regular, unconditional payments for every resident of a country.
This is one where increased taxes and reduced tax havens could support. Not only does UBI ensure everyone can live out of poverty with dignity, it also recognises all the unpaid work that’s being done for a society; emotional labour, childcare, aged care, culture, etc. Opinions on it have changed due to the Pandemic, but there's still plenty of reason to believe it can work. For a refresher or explainer on UBI, check out this one from WIRED or the World Bank.
Change the legal structure of an organisation's ownership, so that surplus is redistributed.
"Profits" are just a surplus, and should be redistributed as wages to employees. By designing employee-owned organisation structures, surplus legally needs to be divvied up amongst the people who are working hard to keep the organisation afloat. Consider employee-owned trusts or co-ops as two examples.
That’s what I got for now, at least. If you want to add anything, please be my guest!
For some more threads to pull on, you can deep dive into "How to Fix Economic Inequality? An Overview of Policies for the United States and Other High-Income Economies" from the Peterson Institute for International Economics (2019) or “Spreading the wealth”; Bourguignon, from the IMF (2018). I’m generally iffy about anything from massive institutions, but hey - they got the resources to do the research, so I might as well read it.