Business Insider Interviews Bard Economist Pavlina Tcherneva about the Job Guarantee

Bard Professor of Economics and President of the Levy Economics Institute Pavlina Tcherneva spoke to Business Insider about Universal Basic Employment (UBE), which is a job guarantee policy. Many countries around the globe have tested out UBE programs, but support for the policy has yet to catch on in America. “A job guarantee is really a public option for jobs. It’s a basic job that is provided irrespective of what the state of the economy is,” said Tcherneva, who is the author of The Case for a Job Guarantee (Polity 2020). “We can implement it now when the economy is in a relatively calm state and then be ready when business conditions slow down and people are laid off.” Although logistically more complicated to implement than universal basic income programs, UBE has long-lasting economic benefits, argues Tcherneva. UBE would fight inflation by establishing a minimum livable wage without increasing prices elsewhere, prevent labor shortages by supplying a willing and ready workforce, and mitigate sudden financial hardship. She believes UBE is on par with Social Security as a means to shore up economic stability and that pilot programs are unnecessary. “We didn't really pilot public education to figure out whether we wanted it,” Tcherneva said. The first American UBE pilot program will launch in Cleveland in 2026. Advocates see the potential to win more bipartisan support for UBE over simply giving people checks through universal basic income.

Post Date: 08-20-2024