Money for Nothing: The Finland Experiment

completely encircled the town.

Now on BBC News - in January 2017

Finland began a bold

social experiment: the government

started paying 2,000 unemployed

Finns a basic income.

It's free money - it comes

with no strings attached.

In this special programme,

we follow the stories of four Finns

to see if the scheme has helped them

get back into work.

In January 2017, Finland began a

bold social experiments. The

government started paying 2000

unemployed Finns Basic income. They

each get a guaranteed 560 euros a

month for two years. It is free

money. It comes with no strings

attached.

You could say that basing

income is money for free, because

you don't have to feel any

conditions to get it. -- fulfil any

conditions.

Basic income is an idea

that has gained some high profile

champions, from market Burke to Elon

musk to Bernie Sanders. This

experiment is being closely followed

I policymakers around the world. We

have been following for Mac people

who have been chosen to receive

basic income.

It was like winning a

lottery.

I think I am much more

inspired to get a job.

Has it

changed their lives? Could change

society?

I am feeling more and more

free and independent.

I felt more

comfortable to maybe open up my

business again.

My name is Tanya. I am 30 years old,

I live in Oulu in the north of

Finland, and I only worked for four

or five months in a factory. I know

that Oulu has some problems with

unemployment, but I know there is

also job is here.

Tanya has been in

full-time education for most of her

life, and has never had a long-term

job. That is not unusual for people

in Oulu, a town 100 miles south of

the Arctic Circle where she has

spent all of her life. The

unemployment rate here is 15%, twice

the national average.

I went to Oulu

University, applied sciences. It is

always so hard to get the first real

job. You have great papers, but then

they look, you have no experience.

Now that I graduated from the

business School, they are offering

me jobs like... Cafeteria worker? I

am a bit worried that I can't any

more pay my bills, I don't remember

the last time that I went to the

store and bought food. I get food

from my mum, so embarrassing. I want

to work, and I want to go to the

store. And by my own food, and by

whatever I want, I want that cheese,

and I want to be able to buy the

good cheese, you know?

Even if Tanya

gets a job, she will still get the

full basic income every month. But

she is not convinced the experiment

will make any difference to her.

I

opened the letter and said" you are

selected to get the basic income." I

was like yeah, yeah! Then I

realised, I read the paper down, and

they said that if you are not

working, your benefits will be the

same. I was like, oh. The benefit

from the basic income comes only

when you get a job. You get the job,

like, 1500 euros, and on top of that

you get the basic income.

But the

government wants to see whether the

way people receive the money will

change their behaviour.

There is no

means testing, no requirements to

apply for jobs. So the government

would like to find out what is the

effect of basic income on the

employment rate of this particular

group.

Tanya is not convinced it

will help her find a job, and she

thinks it is unrealistic that the

government could roll out the scheme

nationally.

It's just not possible

to give everyone in Finland, 5

million people, 560 euros a month. I

don't see it happening.

The Finnish

government isn't going to assess the

pilot until the two year experiment

is finished. So far it is quietly

optimistic about how the pilot is

going, but there are concerns about

the cost.

I think we have some data

to prove that this is if not a

glorious success story, it has very

positive aspects. Now we are making

this experiment, it is very

generous, and it would be too

expensive to afford it for all

citizens, but I am happy that we

have taken the first step.

Five

hours south from Oulu is Juha, who

is hoping the basic income will help

him rediscover his entrepreneurial

spirit.

My name is Juha, I am 39

years old, Father of six kids. I was

living with no -- making window

frames, that was my business to

seven years. All of this five, six

years, I have been unemployed, I

have been trying to start a new

company, new business. I tried to

start to shoot and edit commercial

vehicle -- commercial videos for

small companies for YouTube. Also I

want to do artwork at creative work.

Juha is optimistic about the way

basic income works will make it

easier to him to get back into

employment.

With the basic income,

the biggest change is the

bureaucracy. Like before, I needed

to fill out different kind of forms,

I need to meet employment office

people, I was spending quite a lot

of my time on stuff that has no

meaning. With basic income, I can

focus on the more important things.

I don't need to spend my time on

something that has no meaning. And I

really believe also that this would

be super good for all of the people.

So I got my humanity back. I can

start to do things what I can do,

and what I want to do. And I can use

my skills.

Five months after the

start of the experiment, Juha is

still unemployed. But he is full of

enthusiasm. He is about to start his

new business.

We don't know yet

whether there are many persons who

have started their own companies,

but I have heard from newspapers

that there are some, and they have

been very positive about this, this

possibility, they have two years to

say, peaceful time, to start their

own companies.

The unions in Finland

think basic income will have the

opposite effect.

Basic income would

be a retirement scheme that you can

take up whenever you want. You can

simply choose to stop working and

live off your savings and basic

income, and that means lower level

of employment and less taxes. So

even less money to fund the social

benefits and services that we want.

Some of the people on the basic

income trial were established in

professional career so many years

before losing their jobs.

My name is

Thomas, I am a freelance journalist

and author. I have been without work

since 2013. I was a foreign news

editor, to the daily newspaper in

Finland. But then they decided to

put down all the section of the

foreign affairs, so basically I lost

my job. It is not easy to find a job

as a journalist in the capital of

Finland.

Sofa Thomas, being chosen

for a basic income pilot was a dream

come true.

It helps me as a

freelancer, and it is social

security in a way. Without the

Sigma. -- stigma. To me it is not

embarrassing any more to get

benefits. Work has changed and

social politics has to follow that

trend now. I think that this basic

income will encourage people to get

back to the society and not be at

home.

And he thinks Finland can

afford a system like this one.

The

northern countries are more prepared

for this kind of basic income

system, because the same money is

there already. We pay taxes. Now we

spend it in a smart way.

The budget

for the basic income experiment is

20 million euros. This is an

experiment model.

The problem is

that it will be paid by the tax

money of hard-working people, and is

hard to justify it to employees,

that you have two they are higher

level of tax to provide benefits for

those who simply choose not to work.

It may be expensive, but the truth

is, the policymakers have to start

thinking radically about new ways to

make the labour market worked in the

future. Studies indicate that in the

next 20 years, between 30 and 47% of

jobs in developed economies could be

at risk of automation. That means

robots doing jobs that humans

currently do. All this is preying on

the mind of our fourth basic income

recipients.

I am 35 years old, I

live in Helsinki, the capital of

Finland. I work for a Danish

company, and through the company I

worked all around the world, and

after about six years of travelling

around I moved back to Finland, and

the employer told me that I had to

move again. Which I didn't want to

do, and I had to give up the job, so

I became unemployed.

Sini now works

for herself and very flexibly.

So

now I am still working, I have one

customer, I am working for a

foundation. When we come at work

days, three days, so it is a bit

insecure. So I have worked, but my

income level changes all the time.

Sini is convinced that more and more

people like her will be pursuing

flexible careers like this in the

future.

Very common comment that I

get from people, you are educated,

open to do different kind of work,

how can you be unemployed? And I

think, is not discussed openly, but

it is a situation for educated

people, you are unemployed

sometimes. And if the scenario of

robotics and all these other kind of

work concept changed, more and more

educated and skilled people will be

unemployed.

It's now ten months into the pilot,

and things have changed radically to

Tanya. When we first met her, she

thought ASIC income would make no

difference to her prospects of

finding a job.

I took this job

offer, it is telemarketing. I

actually enjoy my job a lot. I love

my co-workers, I love the office, I

love the hours. And I just love to

be being independent, owning my own

money. And standing on my own two

feet. Now I actually can go to the

store and buy food and not be so

worried when I am going to eat the

next day. Basic income has changed

my life. Without it, I couldn't have

taken a job with a little lower

salary. I really have dreamed a long

time to work in an advertising

agency, and there was something with

marketing. I am going to learn to be

the best telemarketer person in

Finland, and find an advertising

agency that would give me a job, my

dream job.

So has she changed her

mind about the basic income

experiment?

At first I was quite

sceptical about basic income. It is

obvious that we can't afford to pay

it to every citizen. But then I

realised, it is actually a genius

idea. If you just pay it for those

people who have been at home for so

long, and been unemployed for so

long, that is a huge drive for them,

to get a job. We are human beings,

we need human contact, we need to be

proud of something, and that's a

huge problem when you are

unemployed. I think I have turned my

life around.

When we met him five months ago, he

was hoping he would be able to start

a small business after going

bankrupt.

Ten months after starting

in the experiment, I still feel

super happy and free and

independent.

He has set up one

business already, but he wants to

expand.

I got my own business, and

have been running that for the last

few months. The easiest money is

making those drums and selling. It

is hand craft, it is not super good

for business, it takes time to make,

and I love it.

Good to see you.

Them

one thing I am planning with a

couple of my friends, to start like

a B&B.

We are going to be calling

people that know how to draw and

paint, and doing something in

painting, and putting it here so

that next week you can start

filming.

We have some studios, so

people would stay here and spend

here one week, tee weeks, or a year.

Do you want me to help you with the

drums?

And Juha and his friend have

other plans as well. Today, they

have come to meet the mayor, to talk

about transforming an old art school

and turning it into workshops for

artists. Juha is optimistic that he

will still be on a firm financial

footing after the Basic income

experiment ends.

I think for me it

is enough. I believe that after one

year my business is running, and I

don't need other help. I very much

believe that basic income would be

super good for finances and the

economy of the government. I feel

that it should be good for others,

also.

When we first met unemployed

journalist Tuomas, he was optimistic

that the basic income trial would

help them find a new job. He is now

married to a former MP and Green

party activist. What else is new?

What has changed in my life since

June? I got married, but

financially, not so much. I am still

without a job. I can say that the

basic income has changed a lot in my

life. OK, psychologically, yes, but

financially not so much.

Tuomas was

craving the structure that the job

would ring.

I would be happy if I

had a job, even a part-time job, for

the routines. In that sense, you can

call me lazy, because I need a

producer, I need somebody to tell me

what to do, and I enjoy doing that.

Now, after five years... Almost five

years as a freelancer, maybe I am

not the right person to be like

that. My wife can do that. She has

always done that. Not for me, it is

more secure if you have a job.

As

Tuomas attends a political event

with his new wife, how does he feel

now about job prospects?

I have

still over one year to go, so

anything can happen. So I am quite

optimistic. I am not worried when

this pilot is ending, because then I

have got back to the old system, and

get those benefits and other way.

Let's see, during summertime next

year, I will have a job.

And what

about Sini? She wanted a career

structure that will allow her to

work for multiple employers and

still find time for herself and her

family.

The insecurity of not having

a permanent job, and actually

working as self-employed, allows

also to have more freedom on the way

you spend your time. My dad has

old-timers, and me and my sister,

who lives also in Finland, we try to

help them out a lot.

Sini has found

that basic income gives her more

time with family, and also to pursue

charity work.

With basic income, it

is kind of easy maybe to get this

work-life balance. So basic income

helps me to make myself available,

to help my parents, or do volunteer

work. Of course I understand not

everybody is motivated to do those

things, but I am the type of person

that I want to do something that

makes me happy, and I would want

more people to have the courage to

say, OK, maybe money is not

everything. What would you like to

study?

Language.

I think basic

income as an idea, for everyone to

receive it, is a very nice idea. On

an individual level it has been

very, very life changing for me. So

I would see a package more or less

in a way that if your income drops

to a certain level, then you become

part of kind of the basic income or

the benefit system.

Four people,

four very different experiences of

basic income. Tanya has -- Tanja has

found a job she would never have

considered before, Juha has

rediscovered his entrepreneurial

spirit, Tuomas were still

unemployed, and Sini has found a way

to pursue a portfolio career, see

her family, and do charity work.

There is a year to go before the

trial ends. Is there a chance the

government will extend the scheme to

all of them than's unemployed?

Finland is quite moderate in this

way, we have a culture of

experimentation, and where we want

to see this kind of social

innovations in practice. So whether

this basic income is the solution to

poverty or Labour market goblins,

can still be proud that Finland has

taken this sort of bold way of

testing, and hopefully our

experience can benefit other

nations.

We will have to wait and

see if Finland's experiment becomes

a model for the future.