Precariat is a noun that refers to someone whose employment and income are considered unstable. 

Our word of the day came around in the 1980s as a blend of the words ‘precarious,’ meaning ‘insecure’ or ‘likely to collapse’ and ‘proletariate’ meaning ‘a member of the working class.’ As with proletariat, our word of the day is often used to describe the precariat collectively. Here’s an example:

Back in my days as a waiter in a greasy spoon diner, it was often tough to watch those wealthy businessmen come in wearing expensive tailored suits while those of us in the precariat weren’t sure if we’d have a job the next week.