Читать книгу The Uprising of the Pandemials - Federico Dominguez - Страница 15

The technological revolution has produced a deep disparity between those who carry out non-routine tasks such as engineers, financiers, doctors, or IT professionals and people with more routine jobs such as call center employees, toll booth attendants, janitors, security guards and supermarket cashiers. Jobs like these, which run a serious risk of automation, have seen the smallest increase in their salaries. For these workers, public policies for income support will be necessary, but they must be simple programs that preserve the dignity of the worker and foster employment. What must be avoided is a tangle of welfare programs that do nothing but subsidize poverty instead of solving it.

The pandemic is finally unmasking the massive inequality we live in and mainly affects two groups: those with the lowest incomes and young people. A recent study found that Britons earning less than 20,000 pounds a year are twice as likely to become unemployed due to the pandemic than those earning over 40,000 pounds. Also, people under 30 are twice as likely to become unemployed than those between 40 and 55. (10)

In the following pages, we will consider what governments can do to reduce the costs of housing, healthcare, and education to recover the ideal middle class. On the other hand, from an income standpoint, we will discuss how to reduce inequality without falling into complex, distortive state programs.