Work creates belonging

When people talk about work, they almost always talk about money. Wage levels, agreements, taxes. All of it matters. But none of it explains why someone who loses a job so often describes it as losing themselves.

A job gives you a place in a day. Someone counts on you arriving. Someone notices when you don't. It sounds small, but it is one of the strongest forms of belonging a society can offer.

I have driven a taxi for many years. In that time I have met people with university degrees from other countries who now sit behind the wheel because nobody was willing to test what they know. They rarely complain. But I see what it costs them to be less than they are, every single day.

That is why working conditions are never only an economic question. Insecure employment doesn't just wear on your wallet; it wears on your ability to plan a life — to take a loan, to promise your children something, to dare to fall ill.

Freedom at work isn't freedom from responsibility. It's the idea that responsibility runs both ways. Someone who shows up for the work should be able to count on the work showing up for them. That's where respect begins, and it is what separates having an income from belonging somewhere.