Food for thought

A recent report by McMaster University (Hamilton) and United Way Canada, funded by The Federal Social Sciences and Humanities Council, released some amazing facts. It stated that 'precarious or insecure' work in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas has increased by 50% in the last twenty years and is affecting people's decisions regarding relations and having children. Barely half of the working adults in the two areas have full-time jobs with benefits and expect to be in the same job a year from now. Half of the insecure workers are earning between $50,000 and $100,000 a year. According to the report, the impact is being felt in the upper income levels. Some of the middle- income workers are university lecturers on contracts and research assistants in hospitals and government facilities. Contracts mean limited-time employment, low wages, no benefits, and no guarantee of further employment when the contract ends. Until recently, poverty and insecurity were thought to affect low-income workers, but not anymore. As Wayne Lewchuk, McMaster University Labour and Economics professor put it, " ...we found that in some cases, middle-income households with precarious work are under more stress than low-income households with secure employment." One thing is clear -- under capitalism, whatever one's job or income, you are bound, sooner or later, to get screwed. John Ayers.