Page 78 - COVID-19: The Great Reset

for workers with childcare problems. It remains to be seen how
this will feature in the redefinition of the social contract in the US.

By contrast, almost all European countries require employers to
provide paid sick leave for varying periods during which workers
are also protected from dismissal. New laws that were
promulgated at the beginning of the pandemic also meant that the

state would compensate part of or the whole salary of people
confined at home, including those working in the gig economy and
freelancers. In Japan, all workers are entitled to up to 20 days of
paid leave every year while, in China, they are entitled to sick pay

that ranges from 60% to 100% of daily wages during any period of
illness with the length of sick leave contractually agreed or defined
between workers and employers. As we move forward, we should
expect such issues to intrude more and more in the redefinition of

our social contract.

Another aspect that is critical for social contracts in Western
democracies pertains to liberties and freedom. There is currently
growing concern that the fight against this pandemic and future

ones will lead to the creation of permanent surveillance societies.
This issue is explored in more detail in the chapter on the
technological reset, but suffice to say that a state emergency can
only be justified when a threat is public, universal and existential.
In addition, political theorists often emphasize that extraordinary

powers require authorization from the people and must be limited
in time and proportion. One can agree with the former part of the
assertion (public, universal and existential threat), but what about

the latter? Expect it to be a prominent component of future
discussions about what our social contract should look like.

Collectively redefining the terms of our social contracts is an
epochal task that binds the substantial challenges of the present
moment to the hopes of the future. As Henry Kissinger reminded

us: “The historic challenge for leaders is to manage the crisis
while building the future. Failure could set the world on fire”. [72]
While reflecting on the contours we think a future social contract

might follow, we ignore at our peril the opinion of the younger
generation who will be asked to live with it. Their adherence is
decisive and thus to better understand what they want, we must

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