The low-wage international

Audio 48:30

A cashier dressed in a mask with plastic film to protect herself from the coronavirus, in a supermarket in Strasbourg, March 19, 2020. FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP

By: Jean-Pierre Boris Follow

63 mins

In France, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the fore people we usually hear little about.

Cashiers, delivery men, caregivers, and many others, whose functions were discovered to be essential for the functioning of our societies and how poorly they were paid.

Publicity

This question of low incomes is not a discovery.

For two years (2018), the yellow vests movement has put it on the front page of French news.

Wages do not increase and are not sufficient for the low among them to ensure a standard of living consistent with the development of the country.

The question is not, however, limited to France.

This is a global issue, we will find out in this show.

Hence the questions asked during the show.

Why are wages stagnating?

Is it a coincidence or the result of a deliberate policy?

Is it possible to return to a phase of generalized wage increases?

To answer it, two guests

:


- Patrick Artus

is chief economist at the Natixis bank and associate professor at the Paris School of Economics.

He has just published, with Odile Jacob editions, a book entitled

40 years of wage austerity, how to get out

 ?


-

Philippe Askenazy

is research director at CNRS, professor at the École Normale Supérieure.

His latest book

Le Partition des Richesses 

was published by Odile Jacob.

The previous book

Tous rentiers 

will be published in its expanded and updated version in January 2021 in the English language under the title:

Share the Wealth

: How to End the Rentier Capitalism

.

It will be at Verso book.

This is the testimony of an employee of Carrefour stores during a demonstration organized last week in Paris by trade unions.

Among the demands the rise in wages.

David Baché

from RFI's Economics Department was on site.

Eco from here Report / Yamani Ouardia Carrefour

The salary question is now turning into uneasiness, as we can see in France, through the “markets for employment and dignity”.

One of them took place in Marseille.

This is an Eco from here report Eco from elsewhere by

Stéphane Burgatt

.

Eco from here Report / Salaries Marseille

Another example with what is happening in Turkey where, after several years of strong growth under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the economy has been mired in difficulties since 2016, notably with double-digit inflation and a failing currency.

The purchasing power of Turks is all the more affected as their wages do not increase, against a background of structural unemployment.

In Istanbul, it is a story of

Anne Andlauer

.

Eco from here Report / Turkey salaries

In Quebec, about 20% of workers are considered poorly paid.

A relatively stable proportion for 10 years, but the age of the people concerned is increasing.

In other words, it is not a question of student jobs, but in large part of citizens who will keep this low remuneration throughout their careers.

In general, the service sector, whether it concerns childcare or catering, or sales in food stores, remains poorly paid.

Pascale Guéricolas

met some of these employees in Quebec.

Eco from here Report / Quebec low wages

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Coronavirus: front-line workers want "recognition and dignified pay"