Indeed, it may indeed take much courage to introduce a measure of basic income (the so-called ‘reddito di cittadinanza’) which is conditional upon undertaking ‘unpaid work’ in community-based services. The reform states that to get the subsidy, the ‘poor’ will have to work eight hours a week for ‘free’ (unpaid) ‘for the state’ and accept a job proposal out of three, perhaps in three years (and not more than 18 or 24 months as previously thought) under threat of expulsion from the system.[...]
The effects of the Italy’s recent reform on the most vulnerable social groups, the ones at the highest risk of poverty (i.e. in temporary and low-paid jobs), and those likely to be women, young, older (+45) or minorities, can be perverse, in the sense that conditionality can progressively exclude them by boosting social segregation via further labour market inequality. According to the Italian national institute for statistics (ISTAT) in 2016, 30 percent of people residing in Italy were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. The risk of poverty multiplies for foreigners, women, those living in the south, within households with dependent children.[...]
Sociological and economic theories tell us that access to economic and social rights and legal status – and not ‘work at any price’ – are the fundamental conditions for fostering social inclusion and labour market integration, and therefore they can be expected to reduce poverty in the medium- to long term. Thinking that an inclusive society is one where people ‘work’ only for money may be distractive (Levitas, 1996 ). On the other hand, in Europe we have relevant examples (e.g. the ‘mini jobs’ and ‘one-euro jobs’ in Germany under the Hartz II reforms in 2003) of how precarious individual lives have become through the ‘commodification’ of employment and minimum income schemes as an income accompanying low-paid and/or unpaid work.
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