The universal right to have a job

It is everyone’s right to have a job as this means relative personal independence and not living on handouts.

To go to a bank to draw one’s wages isn’t the same as queuing in front of a social assistance centres like a beggar to get financial help.
What is dreadful about unemployment is when it becomes massive, making the unemployed feel worthless and insecure. 5% unemployment isn’t the same as 50%.

In developed countries, people don’t starve if they don’t have a job. They can get free food at least from charity organisations. In poor countries, people essentially work to have what to eat.

Having a job is a fundamental right, especially those who have no other means to survive. Only lazy people accept to be jobless as long as they have secure means. For many people retirement isn’t appreciated even if they can have a good pension, as it means for them the start of empty days with nothing to do.

Here is a reactionary view: Only men have the right to work .Women should find husbands to provide for them and leave the labour market to men! This is at least what some think. They put the blame on sex equality which has made men vulnerable to unemployment when there is a financial crisis.

However, the right to work applies to everyone, especially the physically disabled and the relatively old. This category still suffers from discrimination, not to mention racial attitudes in countries like France where French citizens of immigrant parents find it hard to get a job despite their qualifications.

When there is a recession, employers have the ground to manoeuvre for the employment of who they want regardless of labour regulations, which can extend to exploitations by imposing working extra hours and offering a lower pay. What matters in this case isn’t just having a job but working in dignity and not being enslaved to unscrupulous employers.