We hear about driverless car technology, drone delivery and see the push for self-serve in supermarkets and stores, plus there is an increased requirement that our transactions are online. There are mines where every step from digging to shipping the ore is fully automated. Warehouse where machines sort and stack the goods, retrieve and dispatch them when an order is received through the computer for that gadget or kitchen appliance.
Where will the jobs be in this automated world? We can train people all we like for employment but if the jobs aren’t there is there any point to it? Miners, storemen, bank tellers, and shop assistants are just a few areas where there are far fewer of them. Will it soon also be truck and taxi drivers, will our Uber not have a driver? I have already travelled on driverless trains.
Why not pay everybody a universal wage, make it enough to ensure nobody starves and pay it to all or up to a certain income? It has been tried in other countries and is reportedly a great success.
The idea is that all welfare and government pensions are abolished and with them the requirements for medical assessment or job applications and interviews, and instead they’re replaced with a universal basic income (UBI). Think of the money saved on Centrelink, with a lot less staff and less office space. If you get a job, you still get the UBI, so for casual workers there’s no income reporting each fortnight. Even if the work you get is only part-time, you will have enough money for your rent and expenses.
Reportedly, one of the benefits from introduction of a UBI is that people can work less hours and maybe job share to create more opportunities for others to have some employment. The world we grew up in where we left school and got a job straight away is fast disappearing. The jobs now will be in service industries, restaurants, pubs and cafes, and public service like teaching, police and emergency services. There will never be enough of these jobs for everybody.
How does the country fund such an initiative? Other countries place a cost on taking mineral resources or charge a so-called robot tax where a business has to pay an amount for every job they abolish due to mechanisation or computerisation. There will be savings in costly administration of welfare payments. Some of the money will be returned in increased revenue from GST because more is being spent.
As a country, how we support everybody has to be given serious consideration. Humans should be treated with respect and be allowed some dignity. Reports from Canada suggest a universal income helps citizens as it removes the stigma of being on welfare, and it is paid at a higher level than welfare so people can afford to dress better and take better care of themselves. Many get their first job even if it is only a few hours a week.
Senator Di Natale put forward this concept for Australia this week. It, like all things has some issues. How it’s funded, does it require a means test and if so, does that create a disincentive? How does the UBI work with children, do they get a payment, is it the full amount or a part amount, is it put into a trust fund for their education or paid to their parents? A rejig of our tax system would be required, but is long overdue anyway.
Personally, I think we have to recognise the future is going to leave many on the scrap heap if something isn’t done. Maybe this is the solution, or maybe you have a better one.