novelnext Chapter 404: 395 Unemployed
Chapter 404: 395 Unemployed
Bai Zhongqi smiled as he lightly tapped his mobile phone against the electronic payment device on the milk tea shop's counter, which emitted a light ding sound. The milk tea shop girl behind the counter, who thought this customer bore some resemblance to the Chancellor, smiled and said, "Thank you for your patronage." She then handed over two cups of milk tea to him.
Bai Zhongqi offered his thanks and handed one cup to his girlfriend, Han Jiaxue, while saying, "Since I've come back this time, I found the money in my account just keeps growing. I feel like I'm on my way to becoming a millionaire."
That comment was practically asking for a smack. Han Jiaxue pursed her lips, feeling that her boyfriend's shamelessness was beyond redemption.
"You haven't touched the basic income in your citizen account, so naturally it keeps piling up."
Bai Zhongqi chuckled, "I never thought of myself as someone who could save money, but now I realize it was all a misunderstanding."
The couple took a seat at a small table in the milk tea shop. The girl who had served them seemed to have finished her shift and, after handing over to another young girl, she changed out of her uniform, laughed, and left. She even said goodbye to Bai Zhongqi and Han Jiaxue on her way out.
Suddenly, Bai Zhongqi remembered that Han Jiaxue seemed to have a book bar and asked, "How's your shop doing lately?"
After asking the question, Bai Zhongqi felt like a truly negligent boyfriend, embarrassed that he wasn't more up-to-date with his girlfriend's work.
Han Jiaxue answered, "The business is about the same as before. The gross profit has decreased quite a bit since the currency change, but since costs like rent, as well as utilities like electricity and water bills, have all decreased too, it's actually not bad. It's just that hiring is getting more and more difficult. These days, everyone's on basic income and not worrying about food and drink. What country doesn't have an unemployment rate of thirty or forty percent? Nowadays, young people generally do part-time work for three to four hours a day, so shift changes are really frequent."
However, Earth had not naturally transitioned from the old capitalist labor values of 'earning a living' to the stage of Iridium Star, which led to the collapse of the so-called labor employment market after the Star Alliance achieved its immense supply capacity. Once labor was decoupled from the market, people lacked the motivation to seek employment again.
This phenomenon had not yet become particularly acute or extreme in countries like C in East Asia. Despite C's rapid development on top of state capitalism over the last few decades, its founding still bore traces of socialism. Coupled with the national respect for hard work and disdain for laziness, when the Star Alliance opened up a large number of jobs in monopoly industries and supply industries similar to former state-owned enterprises, these giant companies attracted a massive workforce. Many applied for positions purely for the status of an 'insider' role.
However, there was no longer any real system to speak of; as long as one was a citizen of the Star Alliance, they had complete coverage from birth to death. To use the term 'coverage' might even understate it, as 'supply' is more accurate.
Under the new labor laws in C, working 20 hours a week constituted full-time employment. Despite the fact that the numerous enterprises of the Star Alliance didn't need that many employees, they still hired tens of millions of laborers. Most people didn't have a heavy workload, and many even primarily received training.
But regardless, C's employment rate remained relatively high.
And then there were the developed nations of Europe and America, whose circumstances were completely different. In a dozen European countries that had implemented the Star Alliance's national supply policy, the non-employment rate had already reached over seventy percent. The term 'non-employment rate' was even coined to avoid the unpleasant term 'unemployment rate.'
The people of these lax developed nations, many of whom had previously lived on welfare and unemployment benefits, now didn't need to work to eat well and enjoy better housing and cars. Some even managed to travel to places like Emerald Sea Star, Lieque Star, and Mars, reducing their willingness to work even further.
This had become a serious social issue, attracting attention from many scholars and research institutions. Some criticized the Star Alliance government for rolling out the national supply policy too quickly. Chancellor Du Peng directly retorted to these people, saying that if the Star Alliance could improve everyone's lives, should they really be timid, holding back out of consideration for existing industries and just watching Star Alliance Nation citizens' standards of living fall below expectations?
Naturally, with many people leading comfortable lives without working, their energy might be diverted elsewhere, such as into social issues.