Finland’s experimental scheme to provide its citizens with a basic income, regardless of employment, was launched earlier this week. The two-year pilot scheme will provide 2,000 unemployed Finnish citizens, aged between 25 and 58, with a monthly basic income of €560 ($604) that will replace their other social benefits. Kela, the organization which runs Finland’s social security systems and is running the pilot scheme, hopes the basic income experiment will boost employment, because the current system can potentially discourage the unemployed to find work as their earnings reduce the benefits they may receive.
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