RESEARCH BRIEFING - UNIVERSAL JOB GUARANTEE BOOSTS WELLBEING & ELIMINATES LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT

In 2020 a unique job guarantee pilot began in the Austrian town of Marienthal, offering an unconditional guarantee of a paid job to every resident unemployed for over 12 months. [...] WHY A JOB GUARANTEE? Globally, hundreds of millions of people lack paid work, with severe consequences for them, their families and their wider communities.1 The long-term ‘scar effects’ of unemployment include increased risks of future unemployment, lower earnings, worse health, and the erosion of socio-political trust and political participation. [...] They can also work well with other innovations in social policy such as basic income programmes, since these policy tools serve different populations and purposes under the broader goal of building a robust social safety net.5 THE MARIENTHAL JOB GUARANTEE In the 1930s, Marienthal was the site of a ground-breaking study on how unemployment affected not just incomes but also health, wellbeing, socia. [...] The costs of any job guarantee must be assessed against the long-lasting social, political and economic costs of unemployment. [...] Read the full study: ‘Employing the unemployed of Marienthal: Evaluation of a guaranteed job program’, Lukas Lehner and Maximilian Kasy.