In the Balance

Hein Marais

Description

As jobs disappear, wages flat line and inequality grows, this timeous book presents a compelling analysis of the need, conditions and possibilities for a universal basic income (UBI) in South Africa and globally.

As jobs disappear and wages flatline, paid work is an increasingly fragile basis for dignified life. This predicament, deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic, is sparking urgent debates about alternatives such as a universal basic income (UBI).

In this incisive new book, Hein Marais casts the debate about a UBI in the wider context of the dispossessing pressures of capitalism and the turmoil of global warming, pandemics and social upheaval. Marais surveys the meaning, history and appeal of a UBI before even-handedly weighing the case for and against it. The book explores the vexing questions a UBI raises about the relationship of paid work to social rights, about prevailing notions of entitlement and dependency, and about the role of the state in contemporary capitalism. Along with cost estimates for different versions of a basic income in South Africa, it discusses financing options and lays out the social, economic and political implications.

Highly topical and distinctive in its approach, In the Balance: The Case for a Universal Basic Income in South Africa and Beyond is the most rounded and up-to-date examination yet of the need and prospects for a UBI in a global South setting such as South Africa.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 Behind the idea of a universal basic income

Chapter 2 The crisis of waged work

Chapter 3 The attractions of a universal basic income

Chapter 4 Testing the arguments against

Chapter 5 Financing a universal basic income

Chapter 6 The politics and economics of a universal basic income

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Homelessness
• Poverty
• Labour economics
• Labour

Informations

• Publié par: WITS University Press
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776147748
• Langue: English

Extrait

Hein Marais delivers a theoretically powerful, impressively documented, timely and urgent case for radical redistribution and universal income to counter state-sponsored coercion into precarious, poverty-ridden and often lethal jobs as one’s sole survival prospect. The book supports a basic income not as a policy fix, but as a far-reaching political and imaginative response to the collapse of a wage-centered social order and to a mounting, worldwide refusal of waged work. This is a book destined to have lasting influence.
— Franco Barchiesi , Ohio State University, author of Precarious Liberation: Workers, the State, and Contested Social Citizenship in Post-apartheid South Africa
If you have been searching for a way to clearly understand the concept of a universal basic income, then this is the book that you have been waiting for.
— Awande Buthelezi , coordinator for the #UBIGNOW Campaign and activist with the Climate Justice Charter Movement
Grounded in a lucid analysis of the long-term prospects of waged work, Marais’ book even-handedly assesses the case for a universal basic income. Clearly written and original in its approach, this is a major contribution to our understanding of the possibilities for policies to achieve more equitable levels of well-being in the contemporary political economy of South Africa and globally.
— Peter B. Evans , Professor Emeritus Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley
This is a must-read, narrative-changing book on a universal basic income.
— Ferial Haffajee , Associate Editor, Daily Maverick
By locating the demand for a universal basic income in the context of the crisis of waged work, Marais’ book is an original contribution. His discerning examination of diverse literature and practical evidence enables him to weigh the arguments for and against, and to present well-considered, creative and realistic policy proposals. It is these interconnected features that make this book unlike any other on the basic income debate. Finally, it is his proposed agenda for action that activists, movements, researchers and policy-makers must now respond to with a sense of urgency and purpose.
— Mazibuko Jara , Executive Director, Pathways Institute, and co-founder of Ntinga Ntaba kaNdoda, a community-based rural movement
In the Balance
The Case for a Universal Basic Income in South Africa and Beyond
HEIN MARAIS
Published in South Africa by:
Wits University Press
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Johannesburg 2001
www.witspress.co.za
Copyright © Hein Marais 2022
Published edition © Wits University Press 2022
Figures © Copyright holders
First published 2022
http://dx.doi.org.10.18772/12022077724
978-1-77614-772-4 (Paperback)
978-1-77614-693-2 (Hardback)
978-1-77614-773-1 (Web PDF)
978-1-77614-774-8 (EPUB)
978-1-77614-714-4 (Open Access PDF)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978.
All images remain the property of the copyright holders. The publishers gratefully acknowledge the publishers, institutions and individuals referenced in captions for the use of images. Every effort has been made to locate the original copyright holders of the images reproduced here; please contact Wits University Press in case of any omissions or errors.
This book is freely available under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons License. ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ).
This publication is peer reviewed following international best practice standards for academic and scholarly books.
The financial assistance of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) towards this publication is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and those arrived at are those of the author and should not necessarily be attributed to the NIHSS.

Project manager: Alison Paulin
Copyeditors: Inga Norenius and Lee Smith
Proofreader: Alison Paulin
Indexer: Marlene Burger
Cover design: Adam Bohannon
Typeset in 11 point Minion Pro
CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 Behind the Idea of a Universal Basic Income
CHAPTER 2 The Crisis of Waged Work
CHAPTER 3 The Attractions of a Universal Basic Income
CHAPTER 4 Testing the Arguments Against
CHAPTER 5 Financing a Universal Basic Income
CHAPTER 6 The Politics and Economics of a Universal Basic Income
CONCLUSION
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
CHAPTER 2
Figure 2.1   World and regional employment rates (%), 1991–2021
Figure 2.2   Labour share of national income in China, Germany, Japan and the United States, 1975–2013
Figure 2.3   Labour share (%) by country income classification, 1990–2011
CHAPTER 5
Table 5.1   Total estimated annual cost of a basic income at different levels of eligibility, uptake and value (in rand) in South Africa, 2020
Table 5.2   Estimated costs (in rand) of various UBI payments annually and as a percentage of education and health spending, projected tax revenue and projected GDP in South Africa, 2020/21 financial year
Table 5.3   Estimated annual cost (in rand) of different types of UBI at different amounts, and modelled impact on poverty in South Africa, 2020–2025
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
G rateful thanks go to Michelle Williams, for her wise guidance and unstinting encouragement; Vishwas Satgar for the opportunities to test, debate and clarify my thinking in various forums; Emancipatory Futures Studies for generously supporting some of the research; Neil Coleman, the Institute for Economic Justice and Asghar Adelzadeh for sharing research material; Seeraj Mohamed for his important analyses of financialisation in South Africa; Franco Barchiesi for his foundational writing on waged work and social citizenship in South Africa; the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences for supporting the open access version of the book; the Wits University Press team for their careful stewardship; and Susan O’Leary for her bountiful patience and support.
The book is dedicated to Sandile Dikeni.
INTRODUCTION
W e have come to believe that working for a wage or salary is our passport to a life free of want and full of good prospects. And we are routinely told that a simple formula underpins this state of affairs: the right policies lead to economic growth which then generates jobs, while in the background, regulation ensures that the jobs are relatively safe and well-paid.
But what happens when the formula does not work? When the jobs do not materialise, or are only sporadically available, or pay poverty wages? This is the lived reality for hundreds of millions of people across the world, and their ranks are growing. Economic growth is not creating jobs of the kind or on the scale needed to shield people against poverty and distress.
Paid work 1 that provides a livable income on reasonably secure terms is rare in ‘developing’ economies and is becoming increasingly scarce in ‘developed’ economies. 2 The intensity of this change differs between regions and countries, but the secular trend in the most populous regions has been stagnant or downward. 3 The world employment rate has been declining for three decades and stood at about 57.4% in 2019, down from 63% in 1991. 4
In developed countries, low official unemployment rates hide a reshaped ‘geography of livelihoods’ in which unsteady and atypical work – separated from welfare systems, labour market regulation and unionised protection – proliferates, along with growing informal economies. 5 In many of those countries, real wage increases have stalled or reversed in recent decades, especially for low-skilled workers. 6 Job and income insecurity, poor working conditions and low wages have long typified employment in developing economies. In many of them, self-employment and family-based work still eclipse formalised waged work as the main money-based foundation for livelihoods. But even when considering only formal sector employment, real wage growth in the past decade has been flat (in the Arab States and in Latin America and the Caribbean, for example) or negative (as in Africa). In Asia and the Pacific, considered the most economically dynamic region in the world, real wage growth has averaged at about 1.7% since the turn of the century, if China is excluded. 7
These trends have worsened dramatically during the COVID-19 crisis. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), approximately 144 million jobs were lost in 2020 as the pandemic forced countries into shutdowns. 8 People reliant on insecure forms of employment and income generation bore the brunt of the impact, with women and migrant workers especially affected. 9 Within a few weeks, the pandemic pushed 88–93 million people globally into extreme poverty, an unprecedented increase, according to the World Bank. 10
Globally in 2020, about 1.4 billion workers were in vulnerable employment – either self-employed or working in family businesses – and they accounted for well over 40% of total employment. 11 Their incomes are typically low and highly variable. In 2020, at least 730 million workers in employment in developing countries were surviving on less than US$3.20 per day (in purchasing parity terms), that is, they were living in what the World Bank considers to be ‘moderate’ or ‘extreme’ poverty. 12
The crisis of paid work – with respect to its availability, rewards, terms and conditions – is disturbingly obvious in a country such as South Africa, which is stricken with extraordinarily high levels of unemployment and inequality. In addition to having one of the world’s highest unemployment rates – over 34% in mid-2021, when conservatively measured 13  – close to one-third of employed individuals