Basic Income latest news
Meet the new moms using up to $700 in monthly basic income to afford childcare. It could be the answer to helping parents stay employed.
Some parents say guaranteed basic income helped them afford childcare, allowing them to secure jobs and promotions at work.
Oregon residents will vote in November on a $1,600 annual universal basic income
A ballot measure to give Oregon residents a $1,600 tax rebate faces bipartisan opposition.
LA County expands guaranteed income program to include thousands of people transitioning out of foster care
Basic income programs expands to assist foster youth.
Task force in New Mexico recommends copying Alaska’s permanent fund dividend using oil wealth
The chair of the Children’s Code Reform Task Force suggested New Mexico follow the example of the Alaska Permanent Fund, which sends every Alaska resident a yearly check based on the state’s oil and gas incomes.
In experiments, San Diego researchers gave cash to low-income people. Here’s what they learned.
A new report details the impact of four direct payment, guaranteed-income programs for San Diegan County residents.
Child Tax Credit expansion boosted housing affordability and stability, study shows
A temporary, pandemic-era expansion of the Child Tax Credit improved housing affordability for families with low incomes, according to University of Michigan research.
AI risks destroying jobs. Tech leaders think they have the answer.
Some tech leaders are advocating for universal basic income to counteract AI-driven job automation.
![With a growing body of research that disabuses the notion that the guaranteed income encourages frivolous spending or laziness, West said she is more likely to be queried on how a guaranteed income program can be implemented. The money can provide a cushion for those who live on the finance edge and comes without the kind of regulations and limitations of more conventional public assistance like food stamps or housing vouchers, researchers say. What the guaranteed money buys in many cases was time, West said. “When you’re very low-income, that translates into time scarcity,” West said. “You’re spending all this time navigating these systems — child care, transportation. Guaranteed income unlocks some time for you.” Some used the time for job training that led to better work, researchers have found across the country, or to spend more time with children, leading to improved school performance. In Baltimore’s pilot, preliminary results showed participants’ labor force participation increased from 64% to 71%, though their unemployment rate remained more than twice that of average Baltimore residents. With many of the programs still fairly new, it remains to be seen how long their positive effects on recipients last, researchers said. Many of the pilot plans including Baltimore’s used federal pandemic relief funds that are expiring, leaving them without a readily available source of support. West said guaranteed income is “an imprecise tool” and can’t by itself fix the underlying causes of systemic poverty, such as the legacy of “racial redlining and neighborhood segregation” that Scott has pointed to in making his case for the program. “What is very clear is the history of redlining isn’t going to be solved by guaranteed income,” West said. Particularly in red states, there are those with “a potent ideological objection” to giving free money to the poor, said Matthew Reed, executive director of the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement in Iowa. This spring, the institute was about halfway through a two-year pilot program that gives $500 a month to 110 people in the Des Moines area when the Iowa Legislature banned the use of public funds in such programs. About half of the Iowa program’s $2.5 million costs come from public sources, including municipalities in its three-county area, so those funds are being spent first, saving private money for after the new law takes effect next year, Reed said. “It was certainly frustrating,” Reed said. Rather than waiting until the project’s conclusion to have “a more honest debate” about its merits, Reed said, legislators opted to say, “We don’t care what the results are. We don’t like it.” Legislators split largely on partisan lines. One Republican lawmaker called it “socialism on steroids,” while Democrats argued that local governments should be allowed to use their funds as they saw fit. Iowa State Sen. Scott Webster, a Republican, who shepherded the bill through his chamber, called guaranteed income “a terrible waste of taxpayer money.” He disputed research that supports the program’s benefits, saying it doesn’t adequately track how recipients spend the money on the debit card as well as other funds at their disposal. “Let’s say they use $500 [of program money] on groceries. What happened to the money they used to use for groceries. Where’d that go?” Webster said. Such sentiments reflect an unfair distrust and scrutiny of poor people, said Abigail Marquez, who oversaw the guaranteed income program in Los Angeles. The city’s pilot was the nation’s largest, a $38 million effort that served more than 3,000 residents. “Based on the results from the research, we learned that people were able to seek and obtain dignified work,” said Marquez, who manages the city’s Community Investment for Families Department. Another important outcome was the time freed up for recipients to spend with children and neighbors, and on their own health and well-being. “We saw that participants were able to leave a violent home environment because of the guaranteed income,” she said. The concept has found a friendly home in deeply blue California, which has multiple programs designed to help groups that include immigrants and those exiting foster care. Legislatures in other states have, like Iowa, blocked them, although two Democratic governors, in Arizona and Wisconsin, have vetoed the measures. The Texas Attorney General sued Harris County, which includes Houston, saying its guaranteed income program violated the state constitution’s ban against giving public money to an individual. The state’s Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the program, and county officials are considering adjustments to try getting around that. To turn guaranteed income pilots into more permanent parts of the social safety net will require funding, of course, but also political will, supporters said. “If it’s a public program, it needs political support,” Reed said. “To do it at a larger scale, it’s going to require public money and public buy-in.” The first mayor-led guaranteed income pilot similar to Baltimore’s launched in 2019 in Stockton, California. Other cities followed, and researchers have found across the board that recipients use the money in ways that make sense for their families, spending it on rent, utilities and food, said Suki Samra, who directed the Stockton program and now is executive director of the mayors’ group advocating for guaranteed income. Participants are consistently more likely to find long-term employment, she said, and to get some form of education when compared to a control group. “When you remove that constant drumbeat of anxiety, of worry, folks are able to take a step back, they’re able to dream,” Samra said. “They’re able to think about what their full potential is.” Although Baltimore stopped distributing benefits at the end of July, the study of its recipients continues. Researchers are expected to release next year a final study of the program, which will include data on recipients collected up to six months after the close of the program. Then what? Scott is among those who would like to see the concept implemented on a more comprehensive, national basis. When the city’s preliminary results were rolled out in June, Scott directly addressed federal lawmakers. “This should be a national thing,” he said in a news conference. “It can be and should be and it will be — I’m going to speak it into existence — part of the solution to end poverty for good in this country.” Samra said the mayors’ group believes an expansion of the child tax credit to include cash payments to parents would be a natural progression. “We’re seeing that as the most politically feasible tool,” she said. West said people have grown increasingly comfortable with the idea of a guaranteed income. Andrew Yang made it part of his run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. And during the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government sent stimulus money to more than 150 million households. “We all received a guaranteed income then,” she said. She envisions cities continuing to serve as “incubators of invention,” experimenting with how to build on guaranteed income pilots and work towards a goal that should be beyond politics. Baltimore, other cities try to answer: Can a handout ease the burden of poverty, and for how long?](https://basicincometoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/breanna-klemm-1nVBujxVJXU-unsplash-768x1024.jpg)
Baltimore, other cities try to answer: Can a handout ease the burden of poverty, and for how long?
Michelle Vines with her children Mason Vines, then 3 and Rylee Oliver, then 2, applied for Baltimore’s guaranteed income pilot program in 2022, which was spearheaded by Mayor Brandon Scott.
Opinion: Turning UBI on its head
Many at the forefront of the technology transition are singing the same tune: as artificial intelligence and automation reshape our world, UBI will become not just desirable, but inevitable.
Harris County commissioners to take up vote on revised guaranteed income program
Paxton in June requested the state prohibit payments under the county’s pilot guaranteed income program. The Texas Supreme Court in June granted the state’s request, ultimately deeming Uplift Harris unconstitutional.
Churches in South Africa join call for basic income grant
Providing a guaranteed minimum level of income frees people from vicious cycle of poverty, says Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.
After ‘promising findings,’ program expands that gives New Orleans teens $50 a week without conditions
New Orleans 12th grader Dejah Grimes was part of a pilot program, soon to be expanded, that gives students $50 per week with no strings attached.
A landmark book revealed the cost of inequality. Fifteen years later, things have only gotten worse.
Labour should be emboldened by the popularity of policies aimed at breaking down inequality: now’s the time for ambition
Basic income could result in fewer trips to ER, new study suggests
Giving cash to poor people could result in fewer emergency department visits, a new study suggests.
How much is $1,000 a month worth? New study explores impact of basic income
Research so far shows basic income can help lower-income families afford the basics.
Opinion: This right-wing lawsuit against San Francisco is a preview of what’s to come under Trump and Project 2025
A small lawsuit in San Francisco has shown us how another Trump administration and Project 2025 could strip local control from California governments
What a big experiment giving money to parents reveals
Giving people cash makes them less poor. It doesn’t fix everything.
Thailand to send digital stimulus payments to two-thirds of its citizens
In the “Digital Wallet” program, recipients can only spend the money in shops registered through the program. Spending on things like alcohol, cigarettes, and online purchases is prohibited
Los Angeles gave families $1,000 a month in the biggest basic income pilot in the country. Now the results are in.
Direct cash payments improved recipients’ home lives.
The economy’s big split: Poor consumers feel slowdown, rich ones don’t
Richer consumers may have escaped some of the worst effects of the inflation shock and Fed tightening, particularly as financial assets soar in value.
This soccer star who came from nothing has been funding universal basic income in his hometown for years
Former Liverpool star Sadio Mané financed his own UBI-style program.
A basic income program helped me get back on my feet when I was unemployed and struggling. And now I give back.
A basic income allowed Hope Davis to get back on her feet and give back to her community.
A California city is giving new parents $500 a month. It’s one of a growing number of basic income pilots focused on families.
Pomona is launching a basic income pilot for families with children under 4 years old.
Georgia gave low-income Black women $20,000 over 2 years. A participant said the money helped her afford day care and pay bills.
Georgia’s basic income pilot helped low-income Black women afford bills and pay down debt.
Is universal basic income about to transform society?
The concept of a guaranteed income is gaining traction as a solution to the impact of AI and way to encourage more rewarding and socially valuable work
Anthropic CEO says a universal basic income isn’t enough to address AI job losses
“If the technology goes fast, we’ll have to figure it out fast”
San Francisco’s basic income program for trans people to end after cuts, conservative lawsuits
Program gave $1,200 a month to 55 low-income trans residents
B.C. Greens to back guaranteed basic income, says party leader
Sonia Furstenau says Greens still debating details of party election platform, but basic income proposal likely to target three vulnerable groups.
Cheap AI voice clones may wipe out jobs of 5,000 Australian actors
Industry group says rise of vocal technology could upend many creative fields, including audiobooks – the canary in the coalmine for voice actors
Arts Organizations Launch Petition to Extend Basic Income Scheme in Ireland
Pilot scheme due to end in 2025; extension of the scheme raised in the Seanad.
IMF warns of ‘profound concerns’ over rising inequality from AI
Fund says governments should do more to protect their economies in face of massive potential labour disruptions
AI took their jobs. Now they get paid to make it sound human
If you’re worried about how AI will affect your job, the world of copywriters may offer a glimpse of the future.