precariat

[pri-kair-ee-uht]

noun

1. the class of people whose income is so irregular or insecure as to adversely affect both their material and psychological well-being.

   Once a corporate executive, now a struggling freelancer, he was wholly unprepared to join the precariat.

Word History and Origins

Origin of precariat¹

First recorded in 1955–60; blend of precar(ious) ( def. ) and (proletar)iat ( def. ); salariat ( def. )

Example Sentences

Scholars identify a large number of these voters as “the precariat,” a group whose once-stable, union-protected jobs have been outsourced or replaced with low-wage, insecure service work.

Read more on Salon

"We're all members of the Precariat, basically. We don't know how long we'll have paid work if we do have it, and we just don't know how long this will last because our economy, our society is in a long-form revolutionary transformation."

Read more on BBC

The art business puts the precariat and the bourgeoisie in proximity, which can certainly breed resentment.

Read more on New York Times

"So we have tens of millions of people in the precariat economy that are just vulnerable to whatever is going to happen next because our political system is so plutocratic, rotten and nasty," said Sachs.

Read more on Salon

But as a group they are far removed from people, the majority of Americans, who experience true economic vulnerability and a feeling of being the precariat.

Read more on Salon