Public Interest Law Reporter Public Interest Law Reporter
Volume 23 Issue 1 Article 3
2017
Universal Basic Income: The New Safety Net? Universal Basic Income: The New Safety Net?
Joseph Camper
Follow this and additional works at: https://lawecommons.luc.edu/pilr
Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Environmental
Law Commons, and the Human Rights Law Commons
Recommended Citation Recommended Citation
Joseph Camper,
Universal Basic Income: The New Safety Net?
, 23 Pub. Interest L. Rptr. 8 (2017).
Available at: https://lawecommons.luc.edu/pilr/vol23/iss1/3
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by LAW eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in
Public Interest Law Reporter by an authorized editor of LAW eCommons. For more information, please contact law-
Loyola
Public
Interest
Law
Reporter
Universal
Basic
Income:
The
New
Safety
Net?
Joseph
Camper
Income
inequality
in
the
United
States
is
arguably
worse
now
than
during
any
other
period
in
American
history.
1
Globalization
has
left
millions
of
Amer-
icans
jobless
over
the
past
two
decades,
2
and
automation
threatens
to
displace
millions
of
blue
and
white
collar
jobs
in
the
coming
decades.
3
As
this
paradig-
matic
economic
change
continues,
a
growing
chorus
of
academics,
4
technolo-
gists,
5
and
legislators
6
are
discussing
the
possibility
of
providing
monthly,
unconditional
cash
payments
to
all
citizens
-
a
universal
basic
income
(UBI).
7
UBI
does
not
follow
the
system
used
by
many
current
federal
safety
net
programs
which
give
supplemental
aid
conditioned
on
work
requirements.
8
Nor
does
it
follow
the
system
used
by
most
non-profit
aid
organizations
which
give
aid
in
the
form
of
material
goods.
9
Rather,
UBI
would
allow
recipients,
all
adults
regardless
of
employment
status,
to
spend
the
cash
payments
in
any
manner
they
see
fit,
with
no
strings
attached.'
0
The
program
would
act
as
a
supercharged
safety
net
program,
allowing
recipients
to
have
more
direct
con-
trol
over
their
finances.''
I
Jeff
Gao,
Income
inequality
today
may
be
higher
today
than
in
any
other
era,
WASH.
PosT.
(July
1,
2016),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/
2
016/07/01/income-inequal-
ity-today-may-be-the-highest-since-the-nations-founding/?utm-term=.96ble6705
4
9
0
.
2
Claire
Cain
Miller,
The
Long-Term
Jobs
Killer
Is
Not
China.
It's
Automation.,
N.Y.
TIMES
(Dec.
21,
2016),
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/21/upshot/the-long-term-jobs-killer-is-
not-china-its-automation.html.
3
Arwa
Mahdawi,
What
jobs will
still
be
around
in
20
year?,
THE
GUARDIAN
(June
26,
2017),
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/20
17/jun/26/jobs-future-automation-robots-
skills-creative-health.
4
Miller,
supra
note
2.
5
David
H.
Freedman,
Basic
Income:
A
Sellout
of
the
American
Dream,
MIT
TECH.
REV.
(June
13,
2016),
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601499/basic-income-a-sellout-of-the-
american-dream/.
6
Ben
Kentish,
Hawaii
considering
universal
basic income
after
positive
trials
in
Europe,
IN-
DEP.
(Sept.
5,
2017),
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/universal-basic-in-
come-hawaii-introduction-minimum-salary-a7931221
.html.
7
Freedman,
supra
note
5.
8
Id.
9
Annie
Lowrey,
The
Future
of
Not
Working,
N.Y.
TIMES
(Feb.
23,
2017),
https://www
.nytimes.com/2017/02/23/magazine/universal-income-global-inequality.html.
10
Id.
11
Jordan
Pearson,
Universal
Basic
Income
Is
the
Path
to
an
Entirely
New
Economic
System,
VICE
(June
26
2017),
https://motherboard.vice.com/en-us/article/vbgwax/canada-150-univer-
sal-basic-income-future-workplace-automation.
1
Camper: Universal Basic Income: The New Safety Net?
Published by LAW eCommons, 2017
No.
1 •
Fall
2017
For
example,
an
American
non-profit
has
started
a
program
in
poor,
rural
villages
in
Kenya,
where
the
non-profit
gives
unconditional,
poverty
ending
cash
payments
to
all
adults.
12
Monthly
cash
payments
of
$22
give
villagers,
normally
focused
on
having
enough
to
eat,
financial
security
and
newfound
flexibility.
13
One
villager
was
able
to
buy
a
motorbike
to
start
a
taxi
ride
busi-
ness,
and
another
bought
fishing
nets,
which
he
previously
could
not
afford.'
4
Additionally,
village
children
were
42%
less
likely
to
go
a
whole
day
without
eating
and
domestic-violence
rates
dropped
after
payments
started.
15
In
the
developed
world,
automation
of
jobs
by
artificial-intelligence
sys-
tems,
and
income
inequality,
as
opposed
to
food
scarcity,
are
the primary
motivations
for
exploring
UBI.
6
A
recent
Oxford
University
study
found
that
47%
of
jobs
in
the
United
States
are
at
risk
of
becoming
automated.
1
7
For
example,
routine,
repetitive,
and
predictable
jobs such
as
telemarketing,
and
tax
preparation
have
a
99%
chance
of
being
automated,
while
legal
assistants
and
paralegals
have
a
94%
chance.
18
Self-driving
vehicles
also
have
the
poten-
tial
to
displace
more
than
3
million
truck,
bus,
taxi,
and
delivery
drivers.'
9
The
retail
industry
is
already
hemorrhaging
workers,
because
of
the
growth
of
e-
commerce.
2
0
Additionally,
income
inequality
in
the
United
States
continues
to
worsen.
2
'
The
top
1%
of
income
earners
make
more
than
81
times
the
bottom
50%
of
earners
on
average.
22
The
three
wealthiest
Americans
own
more
wealth
than
the
entire
bottom
half
of
the
American
population
combined,
a
total
of
160
million
people.
As
middle
class
jobs,
which
do
not
require
a college
12
Lowrey,
supra
note
9.
13
Id.
14
Id.
15
Id.
16
Id.
17
Eshe
Nelson,
Why
Americanjobs
have
a
higher
risk
of
automation
than
jobs
in
Germany,
the
UK
and
Japan,
QUARTZ
(Mar.
24,
2017),
https://qz.com/941163/pwc-study-automation-risk-
is-higher-for-american-jobs-than-for-workers-in-germany-the-uk-and-japan/.
18
Mahdawi,
supra note
3.
19
Natalie
Kitroeff,
Robots
could
replace
1.7
million
truckers
in
the
next
decade,
L.A.
TIMEs
(Sept.
25,
2016),
http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-automated-trucks-labor-20160924/.
20
Derek
Thompson,
So,
Where
Are
All
Those
Robots?,
THE
ATLANTIC
(May
31,
2017),
https://www.theadantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/so-where-are-all-those-robots/528666/.
21 Heather
Long,
U.S.
Inequality
keeps
getting
uglier,
CNN
(December
22,
2016),
http://
money.cnn.com/2016/12/22/news/economy/us-inequality-worse/index.html
22
Id.
23
Chuck
Collins
and
Josh
Hoxie,
Billionaire
Bonanza,
FoRBEs
(Nov.
2017),
https://inequal-
ity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11
/BILLIONAIRE-BONANZA-2017-Embargoed.pdf
9
2
Public Interest Law Reporter, Vol. 23, Iss. 1 [2017], Art. 3
https://lawecommons.luc.edu/pilr/vol23/iss1/3
Loyola
Public
Interest
Law
Reporter
degree,
continue
to
wane,
and
as
the nation's
wealth
continues
to
concentrate,
many
technologists
argue
that
UBI
will
be
necessary
to
support
the
populace
during
potentially
unprecedented
job
loss.
2 4
UBI
could
also
act
as
an incentive
for
employers
to
offer
better
wages,
job
security,
and
health
benefits,
because
recipients
would
have
greater
options.
25
CASE
STUDIES:
ONTARIO,
FINLAND,
AND
HAWAII
Lawmakers
in
the Canadian
province
of
Ontario
recently
implemented
a
three-year
UBI
pilot
program
that
provides
4,000
adult
recipients,
comprised
of
a
mix
of
those
in
precarious
low-paying
jobs
and
those
already
on
public
assistance,
unconditional
monthly
cash
payments.
26
Individual
recipients
re-
ceive
up to
$12,570
USD
annually,
and
couples
receive
about
$19,000
USD
annually.
27
Government
researchers
will
monitor
the
impact
that
the
payments
have
on
recipients'
health,
education,
housing,
and
labor
market
participa-
tion.
28
Academics
monitoring
the
program
caution
that
the
program
should
not
be
measured
by
whether
the recipients
on
public
assistance
find
work.
2 9
Recipients
may
choose
to
stay
unemployed
in
order
to
further
their
education
or
take
more
time
to
find
the
job
they
want
rather
than
a
job
they
need.
3°
Additionally,
Finland
recently
implemented
a
two-year
UBI
pilot
program
which
gives
monthly
cash
payments
of
C560
to
2,000
unemployed
adults.
3
1
In
contrast
to
Ontario's
program,
Finland's
cash
payments
are
meant
to
en-
courage
recipients
to
find work.
32
Since
the
new
cash
payments
replaced
the
recipients'
unemployment
benefits,
critics
argue
that
the
pilot
program
is
bet-
ter
characterized
as
unconditional
unemployment
benefits,
rather
than
true
24
Freedman,
supra
note
5.
25
Rebecca
Fortin,
Canada
is
betting
on
a
universal
basic
income
to
help
cities
gutted
by
manu-
facturing
job
loss,
QUARTZ
(Feb.
20,
2017),
https://qz.com/914247/canada-is-betting-on-a-uni-
versal-basic-income-to-help-cities-gutted-by-manufacturing-job-loss/.
26
Ashiffa
Kassam,
Ontario plans
to
launch universal
basic
income
trial
run
this
summer,
THE
GUARDiAN
(April
24,
2017),
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/24/canada-basic-
income-trial-ontario-summer.
27
Id.
28
Id.
29
Fortin, supra
note
25.
30
Id.
31
Sonia
Sodha,
Is
Finland's
basic
universal
income
a
solution
to
automation,
fewer
jobs
and
lower
wages?,
THE
GuARDIAN
(Feb.
19,
2017),
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/
19/basic-income-finland-low-wages-fewer-jobs.
32
Id.
10
3
Camper: Universal Basic Income: The New Safety Net?
Published by LAW eCommons, 2017
No.
1 •
Fall
2017
UBI.
33
According
to
critics,
the
program
was
scaled
down
due
to
political
compromise.
3
4
In
the
United
States,
Hawaii recently
approved
a
state
house
resolution
that
will
establish
a
committee
to
explore
and
research
potentially
implement-
ing
UBI
within
the
state.
35
The
resolution
states
that
a
"paradigm
shift
in
policy"
will
be
necessary
as
automation,
innovation,
and
disruption
begin
to
rapidly
worsen
economic
inequality
by
displacing
significant
numbers
of
jobs
in
Hawaii's
transportation,
food
service,
tourism,
retail,
medical,
legal,
and
insurance
sectors.
36
Hawaii's
unemployment
rate
is
currently
lower
than
the
national
average.
37
However,
State Representative
Chris
Lee,
who
introduced
the
resolution,
claims
that
the
unemployment
rate
does
"not
capture
the
real
life
experience
of
families
working
part
time
jobs
without
benefits,
or
seeing
stagnating
wages
bust
a
rising
cost
of
living."
' 38
The
"inevitable
and
accelerat-
ing"
forces
of
automation
and
innovation
will
not
create
many
new
jobs,
he
argues,
and
"[t]raditional
forms
of
government
assistance
are
ill
equipped"
to
address
such
forces.
3
9
According
to
Lee,
UBI
is
necessary
"to
be
sure
that
everybody
will
benefit
from
the
technological
revolution
that
we're
seeing
to
make
sure
no
one's
left
behind."
4 °
Lee
believes
that
rather
than
serving
as
"a
support
system
for
wel-
fare
recipients,"
UBI
will
act
as
an
"empowering
tool,"
which
will
give
every-
one
new
opportunity.
4
People
may
use
the
aid
to
go
back
to school
for
better
education,
Lee
argues,
or
pursue work
they
are
passionate
about,
instead
of
leaving
the
workforce.
4 2
These
examples
show
that
certain
lawmakers
in
the
developed
world
view
UBI
as
a viable
option
for
the
future.
Ontario's
program
is
more
universal
than
33
Antii
Jauhiainen
and
Joona-Hermanni
Makinen,
Why
Finland's
Basic
Income
Experiment
Isn't
Working,
N.Y.
TIMES
(July
20,
2017),
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/20/opinion/fin-
land-universal-basic-income.html?mcubz=0&_r=0.
34
Id.
35
Kentish,
supra
note
6.
36
Requesting
the
Department
of
Labor
and
Industrial
Relations
and the
Department
of
Business,
Economic
Development,
and
Tourism
to Convene
a
Basic
Economic
Security
Work-
ing
Group,
H.C.R.
89,
29th
Legislature
(2017).
37
Economy
at
a
Glance:
Hawaii,
BuRyu
OF
L.ABOR
STAT.,
https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.hi
.htm;
The
Employment
Situation,
BuREAu
OF
LABOR
STAT.
(Oct.
2017),
https://www.bls.gov/
news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf.
38
Email
Interview
with
Chris
Lee,
Hawaii
State
Representative
(Nov.
6,
2017).
39
Id.
40
Kentish,
supra
note
6.
41
Lee
Interview,
supra
note
38.
42
Id.
11
4
Public Interest Law Reporter, Vol. 23, Iss. 1 [2017], Art. 3
https://lawecommons.luc.edu/pilr/vol23/iss1/3
Loyola
Public
Interest
Law
Reporter
Finland's
program,
because
it
does
not
distribute
aid
for
the
purpose
of
getting
people
employed.
By
giving
unconditional
aid
to
those
in
precarious
low-pay-
ing
jobs
and
those
already
on
public
assistance,
Ontario's
program
appears
to
be
closer
to
the
paradigm
shift
called
for
in
Hawaii's
resolution,
than
Finland's
program,
which
is
substantively
closer
to
current
safety
net
programs.
In
addi-
tion
to
having
twice
as
many
recipients,
Ontario's
program
also
gives
recipients
far
more
aid
than
Finland's
program.
Ontario's
program
has
the
potential
to
impact
recipients'
lives
as
significantly
as
the
aid
program
in
Kenya.
While
Hawaii
is
in
the
beginning
stages
of
exploring
and
researching
UBI,
imple-
menting
a
pilot
program
there
could
serve
as
example
for
other
states.
Repre-
sentative
Lee
believes
that
a
state-by-state
implementation
could
be
effective,
because
individual
state
programs
"could
target
specific
characteristics
of
differ-
ent
regions
and
resources."
4
3
CRITICISMS
OF
UBI
Critics
of
UBI
assert
that
it
will
disincentive
the
will
to work.'
Work
is
integral
to
psychological
well-being,
and
affects
overall
life
outlook.
45
Studies
have
found
that
people
tend
to
be
more
fulfilled
and
happier
at
work
than
during
their
free
time.
4 6
Since
modern
society
is
largely
centered
around
the
idea
of
work,
large
segments
of
the
populace
may
suffer negative
psychological
effects
of
not
working.
47
Those
who
do
not
work
may
experience
problems
related
to
self-esteem
and
identity.
48
Additionally,
implementing
UBI
in
the
U.S.
would
add
trillions
of
dollars
to
the
federal
budget,
and
be
about
twice
as
expensive
as
current
federal
anti-
poverty
programs.
49
Representative
Lee
believes
that
finding
the
best
way
to
fund
UBI
in
Hawaii
will
be
a
political
challenge.
5
1
Others
claim
that
a low
unemployment
rate,
wages
growing
faster
than
productivity,
and
a
low
rate
of
capital
investment
show
that
employers
have
not
fully
embraced
automation.
51
43
Lee
Interview,
supra
note
38.
44
Freedman,
supra
note
5.
45
Id.
46
Ilana
E.
Strauss,
Would
a
Work-Free
World
Be
So
Bad?,
THE
ATIANTic
June
28,
2016,
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/wouLd-a-world-without-work-be-so-bad/
488711/.
47
Freedman,
supra
note
5.
48
Strauss,
supra
note
46.
49
Freedman,
supra
note
5.
50
Lee
Interview,
supra
note
38.
51
Thompson,
supra
note
20.
5
Camper: Universal Basic Income: The New Safety Net?
Published by LAW eCommons, 2017
No.
1 • Fall
2017
"I
think
we're
resistant
but
accepting
of
[automation],"
explains
Sean
Freeman,
an
automation
worker
at
PayPal.
52
For
example,
Freeman
argues
that
if
he
"told
doctors
they
are
only
correct
25%
of
the
time
compared
to
an
algorithm
when scanning
X-rays,
they would
be
resistant
to
change.
If
[he]
explained
that
they
no
longer
needed
to
worry
about
being
sued
for
misdiagnosis,
and
that
the
time
they
used
to
spend
reviewing
x-rays
can
be
used
to
research
the
results
that
computers
output,
they
will
want to
embrace
the
efficiency."
5 3
Some
ar-
gue
that
rather
than
displacing
jobs,
automation
redefines
them
in
ways
that
reduce
costs
and
boost
demand.
54
A
recent
study
of
the
American
workforce
found
that
employment
grew
faster
in
occupations
that
made
greater
use
of
computers,
because
automation
sped
up
one
aspect
of
a
job,
enabling
workers
to
do
the
other
parts
better.
55
CONCLUSION
As
technology
continues
to
automate
tasks
once
done
by
humans,
and
as
wealth
continues
to
concentrate,
lawmakers
will have
a
choice.
They
can wait
for
industries
like
truck
driving or
retail
to
collapse,
leaving
millions
jobless,
or
they
take
proactive
measures,
like
Finland,
Ontario,
and
Hawaii,
and
explore
UBI
to
ensure
that
citizens
are
financially
secure.
Considering
current
concep-
tions
of
work,
and
the
lack
of
clarity
in
how
to
fund
UJBI
programs,
such
measures
may
be
decades
in
coming.
52
Email
Interview
with
Sean
Freeman,
System
Development
Worker
at
PayPal
(Oct.
2,
2017).
53
Freeman
Interview,
supra
note
52.
54
Automation
and
Anxiety:
Will
smarter
machines
cause
mass
unemployment?,
THE
ECONO-
MIST
(June
25,
2016),
https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21700758-will-smarter-
machines-cause-mass-unemployment-automation-and-anxiety
55
Id.
1 13
6
Public Interest Law Reporter, Vol. 23, Iss. 1 [2017], Art. 3
https://lawecommons.luc.edu/pilr/vol23/iss1/3
