Jim Edwards, “Here’s how much we’d all get if the UK dumped its welfare state and introduced a universal basic income scheme instead”

As interest in Europe grows toward the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), it is even finding support in the United Kingdom’s Green Party. Jim Edwards in an article in the Business Insider analyzes how much a UBI would cost the UK.

If current welfare spending of £251 billion was split among all residents equally, each person would receive £324 per month. Only counting adults, the basic income rises to £423 per month.

Edwards notes that a UBI may force some UK employers to increase wages for “unpleasant but necessary tasks,” as laborers would now have more freedom to refuse certain jobs.

Jim Edwards, “Here’s how much we’d all get if the UK dumped its welfare state and introduced a universal basic income scheme instead”, Business Insider, December 13, 2015.