Over the past few months I’ve spent a lot of time researching and writing about basic income for The Underemployed Life: how basic income can ease the burden of underemployment, the history of basic income, and basic income experiments going on around the world.

But all of this means nothing without action. Today, I’d like to take the conversation a step further. I’m going to share some easy steps we can all take to push our governments to adopt basic income on a large scale.

Starting the conversation

The road to change begins with a conversation, and this one is all about education. At this point, most people have heard the term basic income thrown around. However, many still have misconceptions about what it actually means.

If we want to see basic income take hold in our countries, we need to bring it into the public eye. We need to start the conversation on social media, at family dinners and social gatherings. Anywhere the conversation can be had, we should have it. Talking about money and politics may be uncomfortable, especially when the two come together, but the conversation is essential if we want other people to understand what we’re fighting for, and if we want them to join us in the fight.

You can also start the conversation with your politicians.

You can use this handy list of US representatives or this list of Canadian Members of Parliament. If you hate talking on the phone, call after hours and leave a message. All phone messages are recorded by staff, and special note is taken of issues that come up over and over again.

In the face of everything happening politically right now it may seem as if talking about basic income is selfish and pointless—especially since Trump has forced people to fight for even the simplest human rights—but we cannot stop fighting for progress just because we’re also fighting to retain the rights we’ve already won. A change as massive as basic income requires decades of consistent effort, and part of that effort is keeping the conversation going, no matter what struggles we face.

There are several reasons why now is the best time to talk about basic income. Automation is displacing many jobs, underemployment is on the rise, and many people are running side hustles simply to stay alive. Also, there are several basic income pilots currently going on around the world for you to talk about. You might be surprised who is receptive to the idea of basic income in today’s rapidly changing economy.

Showing our support for existing basic income organizations

You may not feel your individual voice matters, but every movement is built on individual people coming together to change the world. The following bullet points list different ways you can support organizations working towards a basic income:

• Sign and share petitions: The Basic Income Canada Network and the Basic Income Action Network(US) have petitions gathering signatures from around their respective countries.
• Donate: You can donate to both of the organizations above, or donate directly to basic income projects being run by non-profit organizations GiveDirectly and Eight. It may not feel like much, but I worked at a non-profit, and I can assure you that every dollar makes a significant difference.
• Volunteer: If you have lots of time, but not a lot of money, consider volunteering for a basic income organization like the ones listed above.

Create your own organization

Want to take your support of basic income to the next level? There’s still lots of room to create your own organization supporting basic income. You can even choose exactly how it works. Of course, this will require an incredible amount of work—exactly how much depends on what you want to accomplish—but if you’re truly passionate about basic income, it might be the most rewarding thing you ever do.

Some national basic income organizations also have programs allowing you to create a local chapter. This allows you to control your section of the organization without having to lay the groundwork yourself. Learning to create or run your own section of an organization is a topic worthy of an entire series of books, but you can learn the basics by checking out this Beginner’s Guide to Building a Strong Political Organization.

Final advice

Fighting for progress is exhausting, but we will never get a universal basic income if we don’t fight for it. Decide what you have the energy and resources to do, and commit to doing it—even if all you’re doing is sharing one article about basic income every day on social media. Every contribution, no matter how small, is essential to this fight.

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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:

The Dabbler

 

The idea of societies having a basic income has been gaining momentum for the past several years. Currently, there are several pilot projects of varying sizes going on around the world. Some of them in places you might not expect. Today, I’d like to walk you through some of the most interesting basic income pilots currently underway, and a couple that are still in the planning stages.

The Finland Basic Income Experiment

In December of 2016, Finland’s national government authorized a two year, basic income pilot project, giving benefits to 2,000 random people currently on unemployment benefits. The basic income is relatively small—€560, only €36 more than the standard benefits—but comes with no strings attached, allowing recipients to take short term contracts or part time work without losing their benefits.

There are some flaws with the program: the small sample size, short time period, and the portion of the population chosen. But it’s an excellent first step towards basic income, and researchers are already pushing for the population sample to be expanded.  You can learn more about the Finland experiment here.

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The idea of a basic income—a minimum income provided to all citizens simply for being alive—has gained popularity in recent years thanks to a combination of chronic underemployment and automation. However, it is by no means a new idea. In fact, the concept of basic income stretches all the way back to the 1500s.

The Original Concept

Way back in 1516, Thomas More wrote a book called “Utopia.” This book was both a novel and a political statement, framing a story around an island with what he considered the ideal cultural, political, and religious traditions. At one point, the main character, a traveler named Raphael Nonsenso, recounts a conversation he had about theft and the idea of a basic income. He argues that a basic income would be the best way to fight thievery, saying:

“No penalty on earth will stop people from stealing, if it is their only way of getting food.
It would be far more to the point to provide everyone with some means of livelihood”

Thomas More wasn’t the only person thinking about this during the 16th century. In 1525, Johannes Ludovicus Vives, an influential humanist and scholar, was asked to help the government of Dutch city, Bruges, create a plan for alleviating poverty. He created the first plan for a basic income, and suggested they also create a variety of training programs for the unskilled poor. Johannes’ suggestions weren’t taken immediately by the Bruges government, but they heavily influenced social programs created in England and the German Empire during the 1530s.

[Read more…]

 

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.”

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Today’s students are often described as lazy and entitled. They aren’t getting jobs after school for the same reason millennials have been told they aren’t getting full time jobs: because they’re not willing or able to do the hard work. If they were only willing to put aside their pride, they would surely find a part time job, or so the narrative goes.

This popular story simply isn’t true. Today’s students might have more distractions than students from other eras, but they’re just as willing to work hard as previous generations did. The problem with youth employment isn’t about the youth, it’s about the jobs—more accurately, it’s about an unprecedented level of competition for those jobs.

Here’s an alarming fact-Out of 140,000 new jobs created in Canada between October 2015 and October 2016, 124,000 of those jobs were part time. This means that except for the people actually qualified for the 26,000 full time jobs—most of which were in construction or highly specialized fields like education and natural resources—everyone is competing for the same part time jobs. To make matters worse, wage growth stagnation in Canada has many full time workers looking for side jobs to supplement their income.

[Read more…]