ABSTRACT
Workfare is defined as the economic, social and political devaluation of labour. It is the core element of a neoliberal economic strategy that, premised on supply-side economics, conceptualises the wage as a cost of production (rather than a source of demand) and sets out to suppress it. The state is unequivocally engaged in stifling both the individual and the “social” wage (benefits and public services) through a repertoire of policies that include robust suppression of wages, disciplinarian treatment of the unemployed, and punitive measures against the poor.
