Basic income pilot brings mixed results

The government's basic income pilot program has increased employment only slightly, but boosted the sense of well-being among its recipients, according to the final results of an assessment released here on Wednesday by the Finnish state's Institute for Economic Research (VATT).

In the two-year experiment that began in 2017, a test group of 2,000 jobless persons received a monthly incentive of 560 euros with no requirement to seek or accept employment. Those who eventually took a job continued to receive the same amount on top of their salaries. A control group was also set up, whose members lost the unemployment compensation once they found a job.

The recipients said that while their stress levels noticeably decreased, the extra income had increased their employment by six days on average between Nov. 2017 and Oct. 2018, according to VATT's final assessment.

The experiment was designed to increase employment and simplify the welfare benefits system, whose application requires significant time and effort. When the pilot was launched in 2017, it received major international attention.

However, critics argued that the experiment, which focused on jobless people only, would offer limited understanding of the overall state of the job market as workers, young people and students were excluded from it.

Researchers also doubted whether such a costly basic income regime is tenable in the long run.