Basic income has already worked for decades.

Guaranteed basic income lowers poverty, like child/senior benefits.
UBI shares common resources, like Alaska's oil dividend.

Critics usually ignore this and debate their own strawman instead. 🧵 There are generally 2 models of basic income being discussed:

1. Guaranteed basic income (GBI) for those in need, like GIS. A broad-based GBI costs 3-5% of total spending and would save us money.

2. Universal basic income (UBI) for everyone, like Alaska's oil dividend.

BREAKING: New Food Banks Canada report estimates 1 in 4 Canadians (10 million people!) in poverty, using a new method to show hidden poverty.

This far exceeds the 4 million previously reported by StatCan.

/1 🧵 Their new method #MaterialDeprivationIndex (MDI) measures whether households are missing 2 or more items from a list of 11 because they cannot afford them.

If they do, it's more likely they're in poverty.

25% of Canadians meet this threshold.

Fresh results from Arlington, VA basic income pilot:
— Employment INCREASED 16%
— Employment income INCREASED 37%

Similar results have been documented here in Canada:
— Over 1/3 of working Ontario Basic Income Pilot recipients found higher paying employment, while 25% of recipients started an educational/training program and 62% said it was easier to look for work.
— Data from the Manitoba Mincome Project showed that the vast majority of basic income recipients continued working, except for new parents and students. Median wages went up 6.8% vs. baseline.
— The PBO estimates that basic income would not significantly reduce the number of hours worked in Canada.

Research by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis estimates that a national basic income could grow Canada's economy by $80B/year and create 600,000 full-time equivalent jobs, while drastically cutting poverty.

The evidence is in: basic income works, and people who get basic income work. "Rather than working overtime or multiple jobs to meet basic needs, some participants reported using the time to pursue credentials… that could lead to a higher-paying job or starting their own business...

Other participants indicated that Arlington’s Guarantee helped them pursue better-paying jobs by allowing them to purchase interview clothes or cover the gap between their old and new jobs.”

Nearly three-quarters of the treatment group also reported improved mental and physical well-being and an increased sense of control, compared to the control group.

Incredible findings from an active Basic Income pilot in Hudson, NY.

Employment INCREASED for both cohorts, 72% and 150% above baseline.

Similar to Ontario Basic Income Pilot data, and 1/3 of those working found HIGHER paying work.⤵️ Basic income recipients self-reported increasing savings.

“Even if it's a hundred dollars, a couple hundred, I see how much I can contribute every month…so my present self is taking care of my future self in some way.”⤵️

CERB proved that #BasicIncome works. 🇨🇦

RT if you agree 👍 We'd save more money with basic income than without it.

https://twitter.com/ubi_works/status/1610779679044018178

Basic income doesn't make people unwilling to work.

It makes them unwilling to accept exploitative work.

https://twitter.com/ubi_works/status/1382777625190526977

New report shows #BasicIncome can speed up Canada's recovery & grow the economy sustainably:
💰$80B/yr in GDP
👩‍💼600K jobs
📈$15B/yr business investments to expand/hire
💵$32B/yr in total wages
💪3.2M families out of poverty

Report & Highlights: UBIWorks.ca/groweconomy

#ubiworks 1. #BasicIncome can grow the economy and create jobs.

It could grow Canada’s economy $80B/year — like adding Saskatchewan's economy, or tourism+hospitality industries combined every year— and create 600,000 jobs in 5 years. #ubiworks

UBIWorks.ca/groweconomy