Helsinki (AFP)
The provision of guaranteed basic income to the unemployed on an experimental basis has proved to be good for their morale, but has had no significant effect on their return to work, according to the conclusions of a study carried out in Finland, published Wednesday.
Some 2,000 randomly selected unemployed Finnish people received between January 2017 and December 2018 a fixed monthly income of 560 euros, without preconditions and exempt from taxes, to replace their unemployment benefit.
The objective of the pilot project was to study whether this guaranteed income could better encourage the unemployed to find work than traditional unemployment benefits, which can be suspended or reduced as soon as their beneficiary begins to earn again. silver.
According to a study by Kela, Finnish Social Security, the basic income allowed participants to be employed for an additional six days on average over a period of one year.
This "weak" effect on employment suggests that for some beneficiaries, "the problems of finding a job are not due to bureaucracy or financial incentives," commented Kari Hamalainen of the Finnish Research Institute. economic (VATT), cited in a press release.
Basic income has been widely touted as a solution to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has put tens of millions of jobs worldwide at risk.
Although the study did not have the expected effect on the country's labor market, the participants "were more satisfied with their lives and experienced less stress, depression, sadness and loneliness", found Researchers.
Beneficiaries of the universal allowance have also gained greater confidence in their fellow citizens and the institutions.
Similar experiments have been carried out in Kenya, Canada, India and parts of the United States.
This pilot project was not spared by critics. Before the coronavirus crisis, Finnish unions instead asked employers to pay decent wages that do not need to be supplemented by social benefits.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned in the past that a basic income program in Finland would not be economically viable and could worsen the situation of its beneficiaries.
The Swiss had massively rejected in June 2016 the creation of a basic income for all, salaried or unemployed, a project which had sparked lively debate.
© 2020 AFP