One of the biggest items in an Austro-Libertarian system is that relationships between people are dictated by their mutual agreements or contracts (see Contracts Are The Key To Coexistence). But the inevitable conclusion is that any business or corporation will also act in the same manner. From a business perspective why should they be forced to have permanent staff if they can just have them on contract? Sure, some staff is critical and these people they want to retain for sure, but everybody else is expendable and/or replaceable. This means no paid vacations, no health insurance, no extra benefits and no performance bonuses. This stinks right?
Yes, but… you are making the same mistake that everybody else is making. And by everybody else we mean government apparatchiks and mainstream socialistic economists. Because you have been trained by them to compare apples and oranges all things being equal. The problem is that all things are not equal. Not even close!
Consider the following. Historical facts demonstrate ad-nauseum that the freer a market the lower the unemployment rate in a sustainable fashion. We are not talking about the standard tax, borrow, print and then spend Ponzi scheme that socialist governments typically run. These schemes can sustain anything for as long as money is being burned. No. We are not talking about those schemes. We are talking about true very low levels of unemployment supported only by pure free market activity. In other words, in free markets the unemployment is very low indeed.
And this changes things remarkably.
On one hand, even if you jump from contract to contract, there will be multiple opportunities for you to do so. Working on contract won't feel like being half-employed because the next contract will be just a few days away.
In addition, as there is almost full employment, companies will go into bidding wars for contracts. Which means that your hourly contract wage will go up.
Furthermore, in a true Austro-Libertarian system there are no taxes. Which means that you get to enjoy all the benefits of your labour, not just what the government graciously allows you to keep.
Lastly, business will have to operate forever in a seller's market, which means that many companies would prefer to offer permanent positions as opposed to having to deal with the unpredictability and wage rises that contract hires would entail. Which means that companies would have more permanent jobs out of their own self-interest.
What all this means is that working on contract in a true Austro-Libertarian system is anything but a disaster. On the contrary; if you compare all the benefits of such type of work against the benefits of permanent positions in the current managed economy, contract work in free markets always win by a large degree.
So, don't worry and be happy. The advent of Austro-Libertarian systems will open the doors for better working conditions at higher wages. The rest, well… the rest is socialist propaganda. You don't believe us? That's OK. Do the research yourself. Find any socialist government that has very low unemployment, low or no debt, no monetary manipulation by the Central Bank and a sustainable booming economy (GDP growth of 2 to 3% per year over the last 20 or so years).
Would you like to do the research or would you like to know the results? Well…OK. The results are that there is no such government. They all cheat. They either borrow and spend or tax and spend or print and spend, not to mention that they impose ridiculous government regulations and impose gigantic projects on everybody. It is precisely because of the actions of such governments that contract work sucks! Because you are indeed half-employed and because your wages are not that great and because it is impossible to plan or forecast anything and because you are expendable instead of a valuable resource. Even at a personal level socialism damages you. You are only as worthy as the artificial rules imposed on the free market allow. Strange, don't you think? For a political philosophy that purports to work "for the greater good" and achieve "social equality" and then deliver the opposite, something must be really, really wrong.
Working on contract does not have to suck! This is yet another outcome of managed markets, not of free markets.
But then again, perhaps you would like to work in a "socially advanced" country such as Venezuela who has achieved "true socialism" where all employment is permanent but lacks toilet paper, pantyhoses, soaps and matches, just to name a few. Perhaps you enjoy the survivalist way of life. That's OK. We will come to visit you once in a while and bring you basic necessities so you won't starve to death. You are welcome.
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.
