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Finland Just Started Giving 2,000 People a Basic Income

Finland Just Started Giving 2,000 People a Basic Income

Finland just became the latest country in the world to trial a universal basic income. The new proposal, which involves 2,000 randomly chosen citizens receiving a basic amount of money for two years, could revolutionize work if proven successful, helping to prepare the world for robot automation.

“It’s highly interesting to see how it makes people behave,” Olli Kangas from government agency KELA said in a report published Tuesday . “Will this lead them to boldly experiment with different kinds of jobs? Or, as some critics claim, make them lazier with the knowledge of getting a basic income without doing […]

Finland Embarks On Two-Year Experiment Providing Unemployed With a Basic Monthly Income

Finland Embarks On Two-Year Experiment Providing Unemployed With a Basic Monthly Income

According to an Associated Press report, the ‘Universal Basic Income’ also called as ‘unconditional basic income’ (is a form of the welfare security system in which a country citizen receives guaranteed income from the government regardless of how much they work) continues to go viral.

Finland has launched its own version of the experiment; the European government is going to provide a guaranteed basic monthly income, amounting €560 ($587) to 2,000 randomly-picked jobless citizens. The trial will run for a two-year period.

Finland hopes the experiment would decrease the country’s 213,000 or nearly 8.1 percent unemployed citizens out of the 5.5 […]

Finland Trials Universal Basic Income on 2,000 Citizens

Finland Trials Universal Basic Income on 2,000 Citizens

A trial to give people a fixed income regardless of wealth or employment status has begun in Finland, in what is the world’s first large-scale experiment of universal basic income.

From January 1, 2017, to 2019, 2,000 participants will be paid 560 euros ($587) each month in the hope that it can reduce poverty, cut government red tape and better match societal changes, like increased automation in the workplace .

“It’s highly interesting to see how it makes people behave. Or, as some critics claim, make them lazier with the knowledge of getting a basic income without doing anything,” Olli Kangas, […]

First major country begins experiment giving free money to citizens

First major country begins experiment giving free money to citizens

Finland is offering free money to some citizens as part of an experiment aimed at cutting government red tape, reducing poverty and boosting employment.

Starting this Monday, the two-year trial will see 2,000 randomly-picked unemployed citizens receive €560 (£477/$587) each month, with no constraints on how to spend it.

The amount, which will be deducted from any benefits the citizens already receive, would keep coming even after citizens find employment.Olli Kangas from the Finnish government agency KELA, which is responsible for the country’s social benefits, said the scheme’s idea was to abolish the "disincentive problem" among the unemployed.The hope is that […]

Finland’s ‘basic income’ program means free cash for the unemployed, no strings attached

Finland's 'basic income' program means free cash for the unemployed, no strings attached

Finland’s ‘basic income’ program means free cash for the unemployed, no strings attachedby Circa News Economics & Business On Monday, Finland became the first European country to experiment with giving unemployed citizens a basic income. In short, they get cash for free.

The two-year experiment will give 2,000 randomly selected unemployed people 560 euros a month, or about $587. The average wage in Finland is about 3,500 euros ($3,625) per month.

Proponents say the cash will help the unemployed find different jobs or be more entrepreneurial, but critics say it will make them dependent on the cash.Olli Kangas, a member of […]

Finland and Scotland pioneer Universal Basic Income

Finland and Scotland pioneer Universal Basic Income

Scotland is poised to join Finland and Canada in testing Universal Basic Income (UBI), a welfare system in which all citizens are given a fixed sum of money, regardless of their income or employment status. Any money earned from salaries or businesses is then taxed progressively. Read more about UBI here

Proponents of UBI say that it could empower people by offering them the flexibility to earn, learn, start a family or a business, safe in the knowledge that they will have enough money to get by. It is seen as a means to reduce welfare dependency and income […]

Finland experiments with a basic income scheme for unemployed

Finland experiments with a basic income scheme for unemployed

It’s the first country in Europe to put the idea into practice. Niall Carson/PA Archive/PA Images. All rights reserved. Finland has recently begun a two-year trial providing basic income for the unemployed. The concept of a universal basic income, which aims to supply a monthly stipend regardless of employment, has gained currency in recent years. Finland, however, is the first country in Europe to put the idea into practice. Under the new provisions, 2,000 unemployed citizens, selected at random, will receive €560 (£460) per month. The amount will be deducted from the recipient’s other benefits. There are no restrictions […]

U.S. manufacturing expected to lose 2.1 million jobs over next decade

U.S. manufacturing expected to lose 2.1 million jobs over next decade

A recent study says it’s not cheap imports that are to blame as much as it is simple progress in how we make things.

While cheap imports have affected local steelmakers, the main culprit in overall factory job losses is increasing automation in factories, according to the study by Conexus Indiana and Ball State University.

"Overwhelmingly, the largest impact is productivity. Almost 88 percent of job losses in manufacturing in recent years can be attributable to productivity growth, and the long-term changes to manufacturing employment are mostly linked to the productivity of American factories," Ball State Professors Michael Hicks and Srikant […]

Trump’s Job Promise – Can He Build A Wall Around Automation?

Moving through the 21st Century, automation, not aliens, has been the driving force in unemployment. Trump waived his magic “wall” wand over his rust-belt Cinderellas that eked out an electoral win with fears of minorities and foreigners, but can he build a wall around job automation? Will jobs be the measure of human worth in this century and beyond when machines will do more, faster, and better?

Trump squeaked into office by wooing white blue collar voters in the former industrial states and in coal country with the idea that he would kick start their manual labor-intensive economies. Factory jobs.

Even […]

Finnish government hands out £470 per month to unemployed for next 2 years

The government in Finland has begun a pioneering programme which aims at cutting bureaucracy, reducing poverty and boosting employment.

The country has become the first in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income of €560 (£470, $576) starting from 1 January for the next two years. The basic stipend is worth a small fraction of the Finnish average private sector income, which stands at around €3,500 a month according to official data.

Why advertise with us The measure is part of an electoral promise made by Prime Minister Juha Sipila, who took office in May 2015, and […]