Category: Basic Income

There has been a bit of panic lately over employers who say not enough people want to apply for open jobs. Are we facing a labor shortage? Have stimulus checks and expanded unemployment insurance payments created an economy full of people who don’t want to work — and who are holding back the economic recovery? That’s one theory, anyway. But it’s leading to real policy change: 25 Republican governors have cut off expanded unemployment benefits early.

You can also tell a different story: The continuing threat of the coronavirus and the ongoing traumas and child care disruptions mean lots of […]

Full Post at www.nytimes.com

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic shed a stark light on the legacy of racism in the United States. Ongoing focus has primarily centered on health disparities between white Americans and Black Americans in particular – and rightly so. Black (and Latino) Americans were disproportionately affected by the pandemic, with Black citizens being three times more likely to get infected with the virus than white Americans. 1 Black and Latino patients were also dying at higher rates than white patients. 2 In fact, the pandemic shaved off three years of the average life expectancy of Black men, compared to eight-tenths of […]

Full Post at harvardpublichealthreview.org

South African Breweries (SAB) will reinstate its investment programme that was cancelled last year, allocating R2 billion for its home operations.

The brewery cancelled R5 billion in investments in the country in over the last year due to the country’s multiple alcohol bans related to the Covid-19 lockdown. The group halted R2.5 billion in 2020 and a further R2.5 billion placed on hold in January 2021.

The cancelled investments relate to upgrades to operating facilities, product innovation, operating systems, as well as the installation of new equipment at selected plants, the group said at the time.The group had warned that the […]

Full Post at businesstech.co.za

BOGOTA, Colombia — Fifty-eight people have been killed during anti-government protests that began in Colombia five weeks ago and have also led to roadblocks and clashes with police, the country’s human rights ombudsman said Monday.

In a report presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the ombudsman office also said it had received more than 400 allegations of human rights violations during the protests that started April 28, including cases of police beatings, arbitrary detentions and sexual abuses of protesters in police custody.

Colombia’s police have come under scrutiny from human rights groups for their behavior during the protests, in […]

Full Post at www.startribune.com

Finland carried out the first nationwide randomized experiment on basic income. A study by the VATT Institute for Economic Research and the Labour Institute for Economic Research shows that replacing minimum unemployment benefits with a basic income of equal size has minor employment effects at best. Additionally, participation in reemployment services remained high.

Universal basic income models have generated a large interest in many countries. Finland carried out the first nationwide randomized experiment on basic income Finland in 2017–2018. The participation in the experiment was mandatory and randomized.

The experiment included 2,000 persons whose minimum unemployment benefit was replaced by […]

Full Post at www.epressi.com

With thousands of young Black and brown Milwaukeeans migrating every year to larger cities including Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Houston, a group of young professionals has come up with recommendations to keep their colleagues from leaving.

Milwaukee’s Millennial Task Force has spent the last year studying the city’s so-called brain drain. The group presented their findings and recommendations early this month to the Milwaukee Common Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee.

"While Milwaukee has comparatively low cost of living and opportunities for entrepreneurship, the high rates of poverty, insufficient educational systems, segregation, limited cultural scenes and concerns about public safety drive […]

Full Post at www.wpr.org

The IRS is sending letters to more than 36 million families who may qualify for monthly payments under the federal Child Tax Credit. Under the expanded tax benefit, families may be eligible to receive up to $300 per child on a monthly basis from July 15 through December 15.

President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan expanded the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 annually to as much as $3,600 per child. It also will send monthly payments to parents of children under 18, providing what one expert has called "a baby step toward universal basic income."

The IRS said it […]

Full Post at www.cbsnews.com