Seattle gave low-income residents $500 a month no strings attached. Employment rates nearly doubled.

Rimu@piefed.social to politics @lemmy.world – 812 points – Seattle gave low-income residents $500 a month no strings attached. Employment rates nearly doubled.
finance.yahoo.com
  • A Seattle basic income pilot gave low-income residents $500 a month, nearly doubling employment rates.
  • Some participants reported getting new housing, while others saw their employment incomes rise.
  • Basic income pilots nationwide have seen noteworthy success, despite conservative opposition.
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This program isn't UBI, and should not be compared to it, or used to argue for/against UBI. Universal Basic Income goes to everyone, not just certain people. That's what makes it UBI, and not a welfare program, which is what this is.

To reinforce your point:

A Seattle-area guaranteed basic income pilot gave low-income residents $500 a month

102 participants

Employment in the group nearly doubled

Note that per a quick search Seattle has about 750k people, 102 specifically low income persons given money for some finite trial period is very very far from a test of universal basic income.

Universal Basic Income goes to everyone,

UBI will never go to everyone. Never.

This is like saying "a triangle will never have 3 sides".

UBI, UNIVERSAL Basic Income, goes to everyone by definition. If it doesn't go to everyone, it's not UBI, and shouldn't be called such.

Then we'll never be given UBI. You know... in the same way that we will never be given democracy despite everybody calling it "democracy."