Give Workers 10,000 Pound To Survive Automation, British Top Think Tank Suggests (huffingtonpost.co.uk)

Britons should be able to bid for 10,000 pound (roughly $14,000) to help them prosper amid huge changes to their working lives, a leading think tank suggests today. From a report: The Royal Society for the Arts (RSA) has released research proposing a radical new sovereign wealth fund, which would be invested to make a profit like similar public funds in Norway. The returns from the fund would be used to build a pot of money, to which working-age adults under-55 would apply to receive a grant in the coming decade.

People would have to set out how they intend to put the five-figure payouts to good use, for example, by using the cash to undergo re-training, to start a new business, or to combine work with the care of elderly or sick relatives. It would be funded like the student grant system and wealthier individuals could be required to pay back more in tax as their earnings increase. Ultimately, the RSA paper suggests, the wealth fund would finance a Universal Basic Income (UBI) as the world of modern work is turned upside down by increased automation, new technology and an ageing population.

Comments

Hysterically inadaquate

[Maxo-Texas]

What workers needed is free industry funded training.

It has to be free because for the next few decades, entire job categories are going to collapse repeatedly.

Just as we have free public schooling, we need free job training or else you'll see violence.

In any case, I'm retired on a fairly tight budget and own my own house (so no rent) and that amount of money wouldn't last me one year. The only way I could survive on that would be to eat really unhealthy food, not buy anything new, walk most places, relying on public transportation only for job interviews and I'd have to go without heat in the winter and cooling in the summer.

Re:Hysterically inadaquate

[ShanghaiBill]

First, we don't necessarily know what jobs to train them for

A common policy is to offer tax incentives or other subsidies to employers to hire less skilled workers and train them for real jobs. The obvious employer response is to take the subsidies and apply them to people that they would have hired anyway, or to even fire existing workers to replace them with effectively cheaper "trainees".

There is little evidence that government programs to encourage training are actually effective ... but there is also little evidence that automation is actually causing job losses, so training subsidies are a bad solution to a problem that may not even exist.

UBI

[AK Marc]

Looks like the answer will be UBI, or an armed revolution by the underclass. The powered elite are gauging how long they can put off the revolution, and how little of a UBI would provide bread and circuses, and not looking at how to solve the underlying equity that's been the downfall of almost every civilization that's ever existed. Maybe this time they'll put it off longer, but they can never stop it, without addressing the actual issues.

Re:let student loans be dishcahnged in bankruptcy!

[alvinrod]

They could be if the government would stop subsidizing them. Banks shouldn't be required to lend people money and I suspect if student loans didn't have government backing the banks would be far more picky about who they loan money to. Of course, everyone needs to go to college these days, even little Timmy who had a 2.3 GPA in high school and plans to major in philosophy. That's just as good of a financial risk as little Suzy who was the class valedictorian and wants to go into biomedical engineering.

Re:let student loans be dishcahnged in bankruptcy!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm surprised you didn't choke on the dust and die while constructing all those strawmen.

Re:Sounds Like Something ...

[AmiMoJo]

"Arts" in English refers to science and engineering too. That meaning is less common today but the RSA was founded in the 1750s. In fact it's full name is the "Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce."

They should be popular with the Slashdot crowd, having previously worked on projects like re-thinking intellectual property rights from first principals. Their membership includes Tim Berners-Lee and Steven Hawking.

Re: let student loans be dishcahnged in bankruptcy

[rtb61]

As a principle education is required to be free, else the citizenry is extorted with access to knowledge being denied which prevents them from any kind of equal access to democracy or justice. By the principles of Democracy, the State is required to educate the electorate in ALL facets of Democracy. A country is not democratic when that democracy is based upon ignorance and lies, it is an autocracy controlled by the tellers of those lies, hmm, much like US Democracy, which is probably why you don't recognise anything wrong, you are an American. Perhaps you will be more informed now but probably not. One comment does not a quality education make and you need a quality education to properly participate in Democracy.