我工作，但我還是被排除！？低度就業者的工作貧窮困境

I Work, But Remain Excluded!? The Working Poverty That the Under-employed Experience

壓低失業率一直是政府近年施政的重要目標。然而失業率作為描述勞動市場狀態的指標有其侷限。其中一項盲點是：失業率只能掌握那些調查當下處於「零就業」狀態的人。假使一個人雖然擁有工作但處於美國學者 Hauser 所謂的「低度就業」狀態，那麼他們的就業困境並不會被失業率這項指標所測量到。相較歐洲國家，台灣的失業率一直維持相當低的水準，但我們的就業者其實有相當高的比例屬於「低度就業者」。究竟有多少比例的就業者處於「低度就業」狀態？已有不少學者試圖透過各式量化指標作出估計。本文改由質性研究的取徑去探究此議題。我們深度訪談 8 位就業不穩定者，嘗試透過對他們在就業困境中的生命故事的分析，去揭露低度就業者在經濟與社會上的困境。從 8 位受訪者的訪談文本中，我們看見工作對於他們深刻的內在意義。我們也發現：長時間就業不穩定與工作所得不足對每一位受訪者生命所造成的影響並不侷限在經濟層面。它對生命的衝擊是多面向的。貧窮與工作不穩定會傷害一個人的內在，甚至引發後續的社會適應問題，波及當事人的家人。最後訪談文本的分析也顯示：受訪者之所以長期陷在低度就業的困境，主因出於他們所在工作的所得結構普遍缺乏「基本收入保證」的機制。論件計酬的受僱者、靠佣金抽成的業務性工作者、自僱者、與小農工作者往往因為工作收入缺乏底薪保障，經濟安全的風險相對高。因此本文建議政府應針對勞動人口建構更完善的所得維持體系。

Government has taken the decrease of the unemployment rate as the main policy goal in recent years. However, unemployment rate as an index has limitations. The blindness is that unemployment rate only takes account of the persons who has ‘zero jobs’. If someone situated in ‘underemployment’, which American scholar Hauser designated, his employment problem cannot be measured by the index of unemployment rate. Although being compared with European countries, the unemployment rate in Taiwan has been maintained in relatively low level, high percentage of the employees of Taiwan are trapped into ‘under-employment’. What percentage of the employees is ‘under-employed’? A lot of scholars have already tried to apply various quantitative measurements to answer the above question. Our study switches to use qualitative method to explore such issue. We interviewed in depth with 8 precariously employed persons, and attempted to disclose the social and economic difficulties of the under-employed based on the analysis of their life stories. According to the text from these 8 interviewees, we observed work has deep internal meaning for them. We also found: the influence that long-term precarious employment and low income level had on these interviewees was not concentrated on the economic dimension. Its impact on their life was multi-dimensional. Poverty and work instability both might hurt someone internally, and let him trapped into social adaption problems, then diminishing the well-being of his families. Finally, the analysis of the interview text showed that the lack of ‘basic income guarantee’ of the earning structure was the main cause of these interviewees being constantly under-employed. The employees paid by the piece, the salesperson paid by the sell commission, the self-employed, and the small farmers all lacked the income protection of basic salary, so their economic security was at risk more than others. Therefore, we suggested government should establish a more comprehensive income maintenance system for the labor population.