by Malcolm Torry | May 13, 2020 | News, Research
The Journal of Social Policy has published an article by Young-Kyu Shin, Teemu Kmppainen and Katai Kuitto, ‘Precarious Work, Unemployment Benefit Generosity and Universal Basic Income Preferences: A Multilevel Study on 21 European Countries’
The idea of universal basic income (UBI) has been attracting increasing attention globally over recent years. However, research on the individual and institutional determinants of UBI support is scarce. The present study attempts to fills this gap by analysing workers’ attitudes towards UBI schemes in 21 European welfare states and focusing on the roles of precarious work (i.e. part-time work, temporary employment, low-skilled service employment, and solo self-employment) and unemployment benefit generosity (i.e. net replacement rate, payment duration, and qualifying period). We estimate fixed and random effects logistic models by merging country-level institutional data with the European Social Survey Round 8 data collected in 2016. The findings show that temporary employment is associated with positive attitudes towards UBI schemes, whereas other types of precarious work do not have significant influences. In addition, the results reveal that the more generous a country’s unemployment benefits, the less likely are workers in that country to support UBI schemes.
For further details of the article, click here
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by Kate McFarland | Oct 29, 2017 | Research
A basic income and job guarantee are commonly presented as competing solutions to poverty and economic insecurity. In a new paper for the Institute of Labor Economics, however, Felix FitzRoy and Jim Jin of the School of Economics and Finance University of St. Andrews make a case for combining the approaches.
According to the authors, proponents of a basic income often fail to give due attention to the importance of work and employment to subjective well-being and life satisfaction; unlike a basic income, a job guarantee can provide a good job for all those who want to work, and can also offer training and experience to allow individuals to advance to better jobs. At the same time, the authors argue that a job guarantee overlooks the importance of non-standard employment (they note, for example, that self-employed workers often report high levels of satisfaction, and value their autonomy) and unpaid labor, such as child and elder care.
FitzRoy and Jin develop a proposal for a modest basic income (or partial basic income) in conjunction with a guaranteed job offer for those able and willing to work, striving to combine the advantages of each approach in a policy package that is also both affordable and politically feasible.
Read the full paper here:
Felix FitzRoy and Jim Jin, “Basic Income and a Public Job Offer: Complementary Policies to Reduce Poverty and Unemployment,” Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) Policy Paper No. 133.
Reviewed by Russell Ingram
Photo: Employment Office (1916), CC BY 2.0 Seattle Municipal Archives
by Andre Coelho | Oct 11, 2017 | News
Jim Chalmers. Credit to: Financial Review.
Jim Chalmers, a Labor Party MP in Australia, claims that basic income, a concept gaining traction in Australia, is a “backward step”. His concerns focus on perceived increases in inequality and affordability issues. Chalmers and Mike Quigley, former chief executive of NBN Co, have laid out these views in their latest book, “Changing Jobs: The Fair Go in the New Machine Age”, released on the 25th September 2017.
According to Chalmers and Quigley, the way forward is to aim for full employment, in the face of technological change. This generally aligns with previous claims by Labor Party shadow treasurer Chris Bowen. They also agree that introducing basic income will also equate to slashing on the welfare state. As for unemployment, Chalmers is blunt: “feared widespread loss of jobs in the coming age of automation will not be fixed by giving everyone a basic income”. He also views basic income as basically unfair, since it would amount to giving the same support to a millionaire and to “a single mom struggling to keep food on the table”. That, however, is given out of tax context, since basic income proposals usually revolve around redistribution of tax money from the relatively richer people towards relatively poorer ones. Within this context, a millionaire will naturally be a net contributor to the basic income scheme.
However critical of basic income, Chalmers and Quigley present their own views of what can work for humanity in the near future, of which the Australian people are a close example. They think it is possible to use Big Data to predict “social problems at the household level before they emerge”. This, of course, comes along with high surveillance over people’s “work patterns, hours and wages”. With that and new ideas such as “income smoothing”, which will arguably complement low-paid workers incomes, or smooth their transition from better paid jobs to less paid ones (admitting that well paid jobs will definitely diminish, on average, in the foreseeable future). They also refer to reinforced unemployment benefits, financed by extra taxes on the general public and/or large corporations. To tackle future unemployment, Chalmers and Quigley recommend compulsory education on programming and robotics, while strengthening existing curricula with computational disciplines in order to elevate technological skills in everyone.
More information at:
Roberta Stewart, “AUSTRALIA: Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen (Labor Party) Urges Party NOT to Support Universal Basic Income”, Basic Income News, 16th July 2017
Gareth Hutchens, “Labor MP ridicules universal basic income push and says it would worsen inequality”, The Guardian, 24th September 2017
Daniel Raventós, “Basic Income – The material conditions of freedom”, Pluto Press 2007
by Patrick Hoare | Aug 23, 2017 | News
Lodewijk Asscher and Jetta Klijnsma (composition). Credit to: Wikipedia.
Lodewijk Asscher and Jetta Klijnsma, the Minister and the Secretary, respectively, for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment in the Netherlands, have dismissed the idea that a Basic Income could form part of a solution to deal with the increasing levels of unemployment amongst older people in the country.
Answering questions on the Radar Extra documentary ‘Chance of Work: 3 percent’, which investigated the high rates of unemployment amongst the over 55s and their difficulty in returning to the world of work, the ministers accepted that the unemployment rate was too high, but rejected the notion that an older unemployed person had only a 3 percent chance of returning to work. They claimed instead that “the chance of finding work is significantly greater… and will increase further with an improving economy and additional government measures”, adding further that, according to a paper published by the UWV (Employee Insurance Agency) in May 2017, 35 percent of those receiving unemployment benefit over the age of 55 return to work within a year.
When it was suggested by the interviewers that a Basic Income might allow the older unemployed to contribute to society in a different way, the ministers stated that “unconditional basic income is not a realistic or economically viable option”, reasoning that “regardless of the cost, as basic income increases so labour supply decreases, supplementing a low wage economy”. They also explained that Basic Income did not fit with the party’s political ambitions, which are built around a focus on “increasing employment” and a “commitment to participation”, the result of which, they believe, will offer people “a social network, self-confidence and opportunities for development”.
The extent to which these comments will be concerning for Basic Income proponents is unclear, however, given the heavy losses the Labour Party suffered in the March 2017 elections, which saw support plummet from 38 to just 9 seats, seventh place in the final standings. Though a government has yet to form, the prospect of the Labour Party participating in a coalition, therefore, seems remote. In addition, Jetta Klijnsma, the likely outgoing Secretary for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, has recently authorized for 5 municipalities to carry out Basic Income experiments. The Radar Extra petition to experiment with Basic Income in over 55s has also already been signed by over 70,000 people.
A full transcript of the Radar Extra interview with the two ministers can be found here.
More information at:
In Dutch:
Menno de Vries, “WW’ers vaker aan het werk [Unemployed more often at work]”, May 2017
“Petitie basisinkomen 55-plussers [Basic Income petition for people older than 55 years old]”, Radar, 2017
In English:
“VVD wins 33 seats but coalition partner Labour is hammered”, DutchNews.nl, 16th March 2017
Kate McFarland, “THE NETHERLANDS: Government authorizes social assistance experiments in first five municipalities”, Basic Income News, 11th July 2017
Pedro Alves, “Netherlands: Basic Income petition in the Netherlands for people over 55 years old was signed more than 50000 times”, Basic Income News, 6th July 2017
by Kate McFarland | Mar 11, 2017 | Research
Daiga KamerÄde (Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Research Methods at the University of Salford) and Matthew R. Bennett (Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Birmingham) have written a paper for the journal Work, Employment and Society in which they examine changes in the structure of the labor market and their impact on mental health and well-being. Indeed, it is known that there is a link between these two areas, which is why many will use private label capsules of CBD oils to help manage their own mental health, but a formal study is still important.
KamerÄde and Bennett use data from the European Quality of Life Survey to analyze differences in mental health status between unemployed individuals in different nations, as well as between those who engaged in volunteer work and those who did not. (The dataset consisted of 2,440 individuals, all unemployed, from 29 European countries.) While it is known that unemployment is associated with lower mental health, KamerÄde and Bennett investigate whether receipt of government support and participation in voluntary work can improve mental health and well-being. This can lead to other opportunities if seen as viable, such as gaining an online yoga certification yoga alliance qualification to those who want to contribute to ongoing mental wellness and health systems.
One of their most important findings is that, in countries with less generous unemployment benefits, volunteer work is associated with worse mental health outcomes — even though volunteer work shows beneficial effects on mental health in countries with more generous benefits. Based on this result, the authors conclude that “financial support for the unemployed” – possibly through (as they mention) a guaranteed basic income or citizen’s income scheme – “should occupy a central position in theoretical perspectives focusing on reducing the negative effects of unemployment”:
Unemployment could lead to negative psychological and physiological health effects such as depression, lower self-esteem, eating disorders, cardiovascular diseases, etc. Aged care courses Melbourne, or similar accreditations could, therefore, prove beneficial to the unemployed youths. This would help benefit the people in terms of their mental health, and in turn, they could also be of service to the government and society by their volunteering work. Financial and psychological support in trying times can be of tremendous comfort to the people who are signing up for voluntary services.
The findings indicate that financial support during periods of unemployment remains crucial for well-being and mental health. Although individuals can boost one dimension of their own well-being (feeling that their life is worthwhile) by exercising their agency through engaging in work that is an alternative to paid work, such engagement without any financial support can also damage their mental health. These findings suggest that financial support for the unemployed – through unemployment benefits, guaranteed basic income (Gorz, 1989), citizens income (Standing, 2011), etc. – should occupy a central position in theoretical perspectives focusing on reducing the negative effects of unemployment.
Full article available at the following link:
Daiga Kamerade-Hanta and Matthew R. Bennett (December 2016) “Rewarding work: cross-national differences in benefits, volunteering during unemployment, well-being and mental health,” Work, Employment and Society.
Reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan
Photo: CC BY 2.0 Virginia State Parks
