THE RIGHT TO WORK AND BASIC INCOME GUARANTEES: COMPETING OR COMPLEMENTARY GOALS?

Abstract

During the past two decades a broad-based advocacy movement has coalesced around the proposal that all members of society should be guaranteed an unconditional basic income (BI) sufficient to support a modest but dignified existence. Grounded on a loss of faith in the ability of market societies to provide decent paid employment for everyone who needs it, BI advocates promote the BI idea as a more direct and environmentally friendly way of eradicating poverty and a more equitable and liberating way of ensuring everyone’s right to pursue personally rewarding work. In this paper I argue that BI advocates have been too ready to reject the conventional definition of the right to work, too willing to embrace the assumption that it cannot be secured by reasonable means, and too quick to conclude that a BI guarantee would provide an adequate substitute for it. I do not, however, reject the BI idea. Rather than viewing it as a substitute for securing the right to work, I argue that it should be seen as a foundation for policies designed to secure what I refer to as the right to income support. Cast in this role, I argue that BI proposals not only have merit but would serve as a mutually reinforcing

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