Workplace of the future may require new safety net

Workplace of the future may require new safety net

Buy Photo This past election we heard much about the loss of manufacturing jobs. Columnist George Will puts these job losses in perspective in a recent article . Will cites a Ball State University study. From 2000 to 2010, only 13 percent of manufacturing job losses were due to trade. Productivity improvements accounted for over 85 percent of the losses.

Many fear that automation and robotics will cause economic dislocation for working people. Andy Stern addresses this topic in his book “ Raising the Floor : How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream.” […]

Universal basic income is becoming an urgent necessity Universal basic income is becoming an urgent necessity

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Universal basic income is not a magic solution, but it could help millions Universal basic income is not a magic solution, but it could help millions Universal basic income is the idea that just won’t go away. At heart, it’s a very simple concept – every individual citizen should receive a regular payment on an unconditional basis. However, the actual structure and design varies considerably. Nonetheless, what has become clear in the last year or so is that there is growing desire across the globe, including in the UK, to explore, debate, test, design, and build support […]

How Universal Basic Income Could Rescue The Freelance Economy

How Universal Basic Income Could Rescue The Freelance Economy

On January 1 Finland became the first country in history to launch a large-scale universal basic income trial . The two-year trial selected 2,000 unemployed Finnish citizens and will pay them €560 ($587) each month whether or not they find a job during the trial. There are also no requirements for reporting how they spend the money. The experiment aims to see if large-scale UBI programs could actually help boost employment and spur the economy by providing people with a small guaranteed income, which could enable them to take more risks, such as applying for different kinds of jobs, […]

Ontario floats basic income as a solution to persistent poverty

Ontario floats basic income as a solution to persistent poverty

Ron Pietroniro / Metroland File Photo Oshawa This Week

DURHAM — A guaranteed basic income for all adults living below the poverty line may be the solution to persistent poverty in both Durham and the province as a whole.

The Province of Ontario is currently consulting the public about a basic income pilot project, and will hold its Durham consultation session on Jan. 16 at Oshawa’s Jubilee Pavilion, 55 Lakeview Park Ave., from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.Chris Ballard, Ontario’s minister of housing and the minister responsible for the province’s poverty reduction strategy, will be in attendance.He explains that guaranteed basic […]

Everyone to be given dole in ‘basic income’ payment trial

Everyone to be given dole in ‘basic income’ payment trial

A BIG wad of free money could be on the way to YOU soon – whether you work or are on the dole. Last week, Finland became the first country in the world to replace social welfare with a ‘basic income’ payment on a trial basis.

The Finns will now get a guaranteed payment, whether they get a job or spend their days watching the Nordic version of Jeremy Kyle.

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Universal basic income is becoming an urgent necessity

Universal basic income is becoming an urgent necessity

The 20th century income distribution system has broken down irretrievably. Globalisation, technological change and the move to flexible labour markets has channelled more and more income to rentiers – those owning financial, physical or so-called intellectual property – while real wages stagnate. The income of the precariat is falling and becoming more volatile. And chronic insecurity will not be overcome by minimum wage laws, tax credits, means-tested benefits or workfare. In short, a basic income is becoming a political imperative.

There has recently been a surge of interest in basic income . The idea is that a monthly income should […]

Jan Dhan, Aadhar, mobile paving way for rolling out universal basic income in 2017; here’s how

Without conditionality, it would give people more control over their lives

The government is contemplating the introduction of a basic income. Nobody outside the government knows whether it will move in that direction, and newspaper stories citing me as saying it will happen have no foundation in fact. However, as an economist and advocate for over 30 years, I am delighted that such a move is being contemplated, and that there will be a special chapter on it in the forthcoming Economic Report to be tabled at the time of the Budget.

It is especially exciting since, coordinated by SEWA and […]

Europe Is Conducting Social Experiments On Basic Income

Europe Is Conducting Social Experiments On Basic Income

Credit: BBC

At University of Oklahoma Europe Is Conducting Social Experiments On Basic Income

Pin It Will the U.S. do the same? Free stuff. We all like free stuff: food, clothes, gifts, etc. One thing that we probably like getting for free, without working or having to earn it, is money. Everyone likes getting money for free. However, many people have to work and have a job in order to earn money.But what if you didn’t have to do anything to earn money? What if you knew you would receive a guaranteed basic income? Guaranteed basic income is […]

SWITZERLAND: World Economic Forum founder considers basic income “basically plausible”

SWITZERLAND: World Economic Forum founder considers basic income “basically plausible”

Economist Klaus Schwab , founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, expressed optimism about unconditional basic income (bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen) in an interview with Hamburger Abendblatt , a daily newspaper in Hamburg, Germany . Schwab called the idea “basically plausibly” and predicted that discussion about it would develop over the next decade.

The Hamburger Abendblatt interview covered a range of topics related to globalization and digitalization. At one point, the reporters asked Schwab about his assessment of US President Donald Trump’s contention that he will bring back jobs from Asia and Mexico. In reply, Schwab pointed out that some […]

Will Jaitley take a cue from J&K and opt for Universal Basic Income in the budget?

Will Jaitley take a cue from J&K and opt for Universal Basic Income in the budget?

A file photo of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley. Photo: Reuters New Delhi: Days before the Union budget which will be presented in the backdrop of disruptions caused by the demonetisation drive, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government became the first to commit to a Universal Basic Income for all citizens living below the poverty line by providing direct benefit transfers, raising expectations that finance minister Arun Jaitley may follow suit.

In his third budget speech on Wednesday, J&K finance minister Haseeb Drabu said he would want to create a social security fund and provide a “Universal Basic Income” to […]