How Basic Income Can Ease the Burden of Underemployment

 

If you’ve been paying attention to political conversations on the changing nature of work, you’ve probably heard of the term basic income. You may even have a simple understanding of what it is: a baseline income that every single person earns just for being alive. Additionally, you may even know that basic income is most commonly proposed as a way to solve mass unemployment caused by automation.

Well, it’s all true, but there are other benefits of basic income most people haven’t considered. Even fewer people have taken the time to think how it would be structured. So let’s delve deeper into the concept and see what we can find—starting with the benefits.

The benefits of basic income for the underemployed  

Chronic underemployment brings with it all kinds of stress. It means constantly counting every dollar, and an endless hunt for better work. It means putting off big family decisions, like getting married and having kids. It means never studying your passion, because that degree is just too expensive and you don’t want to spend the rest of your life paying off student loans.

A basic income, at the most commonly suggested rate of 175% of the poverty line, would fix all of that. The underemployed wouldn’t need to find a second or third job to be able to pay the rent. They could spend that time building a new skill set for an industry that has higher employment prospects.

Basic income is especially powerful for those working for temp agencies or seasonal industries. It gives them something to fall back on between jobs.

In the end, it all comes down to one thing: no matter how hard it is for the underemployed person to find steady work, basic income would make it easy for them to maintain a dignified lifestyle. That should be a human right.

“Basic income is a great way to reduce prejudice. It would eliminate the existing welfare system, and all the stigma that comes with it, by making life above the poverty line a human right.”

The benefits of basic income for the struggling business owner

New business owners face many of the same issues as underemployed people. They work incredibly long hours, and many go deeply into debt starting their businesses. Basic income would give these entrepreneurs a little bit of money to invest. More importantly, it would allow them to spend a year or two perfecting their products or services without always worrying about money.

Other benefits of basic income

First, basic income is a great way to reduce prejudice. It would eliminate the existing welfare system, and all the stigma that comes with it by making life above the poverty line a human right. People living on a basic income would also be less dependent on other charity services such as food banks. This is because a basic income would be calculated based on living with dignity, rather than mere survival. All of this makes day to day life better for people who have to live on the system, and also makes them a lot less noticeable.

Second, basic income is, as most supporters will tell you over and over again, the best way to deal with the mass unemployment automation is bringing—and that unemployment is coming sooner than most people think. Basic income gives the people who lose their jobs to robots a choice: to retrain and find an industry there’s still work in or to spend the rest of their days pursuing other passions.

So how can basic income work?

There are two primary models for basic income: a negative income tax system and the universal demogrant model.

The negative income tax model is the model preferred by most governments that are considering basic income, because it’s simple to set up. It would separate people into three categories according to income. In the first category, generally referred to as the benefit level of income, are the people who receive the highest possible benefit. The second group are eligible for the reduction rate, which reduces the primary benefit based on the income received. Finally, the third group of people are in something called the break even level, which means they make so much money they don’t receive the benefit at all.

Many people, both in politics and outside of it, believe this is the ideal form of basic income because it only benefits people with a relatively low income. This means it represents a lower level of cost for the government. It’s also a big hit with people who believe others only work for the income, since you have to earn a significant amount more than the benefit level to stop receiving benefits entirely, giving people an incentive to keep their jobs.

The other option economists have suggested is the universal demogrant model, which would provide a non-taxable payment to every citizen once a month. All extra income is taxable, at a higher rate than current income taxes. This means that even though the required budget would be higher, people with larger incomes would pay the benefit back in their taxes each year.

Activists(including myself) believe the universal demogrant model is better for several reasons. First and foremost, the fact that everyone receives the benefit would make it much more difficult for the government to take back, giving low income people real security. It also has the ability to dramatically reduce the stigma basic income may carry with it, because everyone will receive the benefit, eliminating perceived differences.

Conclusion

Basic income is an excellent solution to many of today’s most pressing societal issues, and it is only going to become more important over the next five, ten, fifteen years. With basic income, we can bring an end to the chronic stress faced by the underemployed and others living in poverty, once and for all.

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Dianna Gunn is a freelance writer by day and a fantasy author by night. Her debut YA fantasy novella, Keeper of the Dawn, is available now through The Book Smugglers Publishing. She also blogs about books, creativity and life.

You can find out more about her at:

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