The morality of work
Moral Maze
BBC
4.5 • 609 Ratings
🗓️ 28 February 2024
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Many people seem to be going off the idea of work. In the UK there are more than nine million people who are "economically inactive". Some are unemployed, some are students, others are not actively looking for a job or available to start work. There’s no shortage of jobs, but people are choosing not to take them. Many people decided not to return to work after the Covid lockdowns. They reduced their working hours or took early retirement, choosing the golf course over the office. For some, it’s a moral failure that so many are economically inactive. But why do we ascribe such virtue to the idea of work?
Politicians endlessly refer to "hard working families", perhaps inducing a sense of entitlement among workers, but in the process stoking resentment against those who don't work. Of course the economy relies on work - the wheels only turn when enough people are employed and paying tax.
Some believe the benefits system is to blame - if it's too comfortable not to work - then why bother? But there’s also the broader societal shift where people choose to work less, or not at all and live a more modest but perhaps less stressful life. Is this a laudable position, where people prioritise wellbeing over wealth and status, or a selfish one that denies the collective responsibility we all bear to contribute to society, through labour and taxes? The personal value of work might feel clearer if your job is rewarding and well paid, but less so if you’re on a low income. What is the moral value of work?
Presenter: Michael Buerk Producer: Jonathan Hallewell Assistant Producer: Ruth Purser Editor: Tim Pemberton
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.1 | Good evening. Britain isn't working, or at least a large and growing slice of the population, |
| 0:10.5 | is by strict definition idle, or economically inactive, if you prefer. |
| 0:15.5 | It's not for lack of jobs, there's a million or so unfilled vacancies, |
| 0:19.3 | but well over five million people are now on some sort of out-of-work benefit. |
| 0:24.1 | More than half of them are long-term sick, the majority saying they have problems with their mental health. |
| 0:30.1 | The trend started before COVID, ballooned during the pandemic, and unlike other countries, which went back to work, has gone on rising. It's particularly |
| 0:38.7 | marked among the young, and 50-somethings opting for early retirement at the first opportunity. |
| 0:44.8 | Some say our benefit system makes it too easy to live at others' expense, but it's clear |
| 0:49.9 | many think jobs are tedious and unrewarding, as much talk of a work-life balance, |
| 0:55.5 | settling for a more modest, less stressful existence. |
| 0:58.9 | Is this good sense prioritising well-being over wealth and status or a moral failure? |
| 1:05.1 | It's bad for the economy, no question, but is it bad for us? |
| 1:08.7 | Is work a virtue or a not-that not that necessary evil? What's the moral |
| 1:13.3 | value of work? That's our moral maze tonight. The panel, Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic |
| 1:18.4 | and Interreligious Studies at Edinburgh University, and McElvoy from the News and Commentary |
| 1:23.3 | Site Politico, Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, and the historian |
| 1:28.4 | Tim Stanley. Mona, Siddiquia, how much does work mean to you? Well, I think work does have |
| 1:35.1 | moral value, but people also need to feel valued for the work they do and what they are paid |
| 1:39.6 | is important as to how they feel valued and appreciated in the workplace. |
| 1:44.6 | So I can completely understand why an increasing number of people don't want to work all hours |
| 1:49.2 | in jobs which are very stressful and where they're still struggling to make ends meet at the end of the month. |
... |
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