Business should always have to compete for labour. That way there is an incentive to replace labour with machines and better processes - which is where increase

Business should always have to compete for labour. That way there is an incentive to replace labour with machines and better processes - which is where increased standard of living comes from. However there is a problem. The 'standard job' is now gardening leave with a wage, which any other job has to compete with. And what that leads to is a 'dead zone gap' in the wage structure between the 'standard job' and the next reasonable job (say working 9-5 Mon-Fri with full benefits, close to home). A private employer has to pay a much higher wage than the payment for the 'standard job' to get people to work for their 'reasonable job'. (You get the same between unemployment benefit and the 'minimum wage' in many countries). However we could have everybody earning the living wage working for a publicly provided 'reasonable job' at a living wage, which would mean the that the private employer would only have to pay a penny more per hour to get the labour they need. The most efficient construction is when the 'standard job' and the 'reasonable job' are the same. That eliminates the 'dead zone wage gap', and allows people to smoothly move between public and private jobs, increasing the efficiency of the use of labour - all without exploitation. And those business that can't deliver a profit with this system? Well they get to close to make room for better businesses that can. Business is there to serve people, not the other way around.