Finland is Mr & Mrs Jones (2010)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 once unemployed people receive a guaranteed income they'll feel incentivised to look for a job and generally to improve their lives. A basic income, according to its advocates, prevents people from falling through the cracks of social security system.
In Finland, as in the U.S., people get welfare benefits according to their incomes.
“It’s highly interesting to see how it makes people behave,” Kangas told The Associated Press. “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 anything?"
"It’s highly interesting to see how it makes people behave."
A jobless person may currently refuse a low-income or short-term job in the fear of having his financial benefits reduced drastically under Finland’s generous and complex social security system.
The unemployment rate of Finland, a nation of 5.5 million, stood at 8.1% in November with 213,000 people without a job — unchanged from the previous year.
The scheme is part of measures by the centre-right government of Finland’s prime minister, Juha Sipila, to tackle unemployment.
Kangas said the basic income experiment may be expanded at a later date to other low-income groups such as freelancers, small-scale entrepreneurs and part-time workers.
Basic income has been a popular source of debate among academics and economics for decades but Finland is the first nation in the European Union to actually implement the idea.
The basic income was popularized by the economist Milton Friedman in the 1960s as a "negative income tax" but is picking up steam in several countries -- Canada, India and the Netherlands -- and in Silicon Valley.
The Dutch city of Utrecht is in the process of a pilot project on basic income, and seven other cities in the country have announced their intention to explore the idea, which has been discussed in the Netherlands since the 1970s.
In November, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said that he believes the solution to taking care of human workers who are displaced by robots and software is creating a (presumably government-backed) universal basic income for all.
Mashable's Gianluca Mezzofiore contributed to this report.
CARD ID: 142799
Stillspotting by Jillian SteinhauerBrowning at 200, Publishers at 83 by Sadie Stein“The Rat Is a Hero”: In the Studio with Emily Mayer by Daisy AtterburyFutures, Fiction, Tigers: Happy Monday! by Sadie SteinThe EV tax credit loophole doesn’t cover most EVs. But there’s a loophole.'Time' cover shows Trump struggling to stay afloat during 'Plague Election'Rushdie Is Bored, Pynchon Goes Public by Sadie SteinRushdie Is Bored, Pynchon Goes Public by Sadie SteinBeautiful Bookshelves, Rule Breaking, and More! by Sadie SteinFutures, Fiction, Tigers: Happy Monday! by Sadie SteinJoin Us This Thursday! by The Paris Review“The Rat Is a Hero”: In the Studio with Emily Mayer by Daisy AtterburyLiterary Paint Chips: Gallery 1 by Leanne Shapton and Ben SchottFlannery O’Connor and the Habit of Art by Kelly Gerald'Clone High' review: Joan of Arc and JFK return for a super fun, selfThe 1966: Spring’s Smartest Tee by Sadie SteinShelved 'black‘Walden’ the Video Game, Merwin the Movie, SpaceMaurice Sendak on 'BumbleTrump mispronounced Thailand as 'Thighland' and the puns ran wild No one cares about 99% of the photos you take. Not even you. Adam Scott roasts Mitch McConnell for using a 'Parks & Rec' GIF San Francisco becomes the first U.S. city to ban Juuls Son travels 5,000 miles to surprise his mother, scares the sh*t out of her 'Game of Thrones' gets a full series box set in time for the holidays The 10 best films of 2019 so far, from 'Us' to 'Avengers: Endgame' Microsoft's foldable Surface could support Android apps Rory McIlroy had a very blunt response to Tiger Woods' Christmas outfit Facebook pushes new rules for political advertising worldwide How to support the U.S. women's national soccer team in their fight for equal pay Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook is 'evaluating' deepfake policy NYC's 'Subway Therapy' wall is transformed into a brilliant interactive holiday card 'Spider How are we feeling about this 66 Discover your true Hogwarts house with a magical 'Harry Potter' bath bomb Dust off your dream journal: 12 of the world's best hotel pools How to clear out your iCloud storage 'One Day at a Time' rescued after Netflix cancelation by Pop TV Uber got in a fight with California, so it's moving its self 9 times 'Planet Earth II' took 2016 by storm
2.4414s , 10130.796875 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Mr & Mrs Jones (2010)】,Pursuit Information Network
