If basic income allows workers to modestly reduce their hours of work, this could benefit the economy by tightening the labor market - the vacated hours would open up jobs for job seekers to fill.

"...at any given moment, tens of millions of people - both employed and thinking about employment - are making a complex calculation as to how many hours of paid labor they need to perform...If a negative income tax placed a floor under income, it could influence these calculations by giving many people the economic security to reduce their hours of work. With such reductions, it would be possible to tighten the labor market by reducing the aggregate hours of work supplied by those already in the labor force. With the same example of an employed labor force of 100 million people averagign 1,500 work hours a year, an average reduction in hours of work of just 6 percent could open year-round, half-time jobs for as many as 9 million people who are currently not working."

theoretical


Loading...