Exit strategy or exit trap? Basic income and the ‘power to say no’ in the age of precarious employment

Simon Birnbaum,Jurgen De Wispelaere

doi:10.1093/ser/mwaa002

Simon Birnbaum, Jurgen De Wispelaere

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwaa002

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Abstract

AbstractAn increasingly influential claim is that exit-based empowerment through an unconditional basic income offers the cornerstone of an effective strategy for supporting precarious workers in contemporary labor markets. However, it is plausible to assume that supporting the ‘power to say no’—to avoid or leave unattractive jobs—will empower precarious workers only to the extent that it offers the basis of a credible exit threat. In this article, we argue that a basic income-induced exit strategy amounts to a hollow threat. In light of a realistic understanding of how labor markets operate and how the opportunities of disadvantaged workers are presently structured, we show that the basic income-centered exit option can easily become an exit trap rather than an empowered fallback position.

Highlights

JEL classification: I380 welfare, well-being and poverty: government programs, provision and effects of welfare programs; J680 mobility, unemployment and vacancies: public policy, J630 labor turnover, vacancies, layoffs
While precariousness as a trend has increased across countries (Kalleberg, 2009, 2018), extensive variation persists in terms of the share of precarious employment in labor markets, the specific forms precarious employment takes and the composition of the ‘class’ of precarious workers (King and Rueda, 2008; Gallie et al, 2016)
In characterizing different forms of exit, and identifying the mechanisms driving exit-based empowerment, it is important to distinguish between workers with a strong labor market commitment who exit their current job in the context of negotiations with employers but fail to land alternative employment and individuals who use the opportunity provided by potential exit measures, such as basic income, to leave the labor market altogether

Summary

Introduction—the age of precariousness?

Workers today are said to live in an age of precarious employment, leading to what one influential commentator labels as a new emerging class—the precariat (Standing, 2011). Both the unemployed and the working poor are expected to benefit from the introduction of an unconditional floor of income support (Van Parijs and Vanderborght, 2017) Such a policy tool, establishing a truly universal and non-stigmatizing safety net, has unique advantages in relation to many important objectives, including poverty prevention When conceived as an exit strategy, basic income advocates are not merely claiming that basic income could benefit disadvantaged groups by alleviating poverty and economic insecurity (Standing, 1999) Instead, they make bold claims about the potential for basic income to offer a meaningful exit option to workers, especially to those marginalized and vulnerable workers currently trapped in precarious jobs. Our thesis is that exit-based worker empowerment through basic income is at best insufficient for, and in some configurations plainly counterproductive to, improving the bargaining position of precarious workers

The case for exit in the labor market

Basic income as an exit strategy

Basic income—credible or hollow threat?

Basic income: exit option or exit trap?

Preventing the exit trap?

Conclusion