Income Support
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Context
If AI displaces jobs faster than new ones are created — even temporarily — our income support systems must be ready. This ranges from reforms to existing benefits through to more transformative ideas like universal basic income.
Key areas to explore
- Current system assessment — Is NZ's benefit system adequate for large-scale displacement?
- Universal Basic Income — Arguments for and against, NZ-specific modelling, implementation options
- Transition benefits — Targeted support for workers in actively disrupted sectors
- Wage subsidies — Incentivising employers to retain and retrain rather than lay off
- Taxation — How to fund enhanced income support (AI productivity taxes, wealth taxes, etc.)
- International models — Lessons from Finland's UBI experiment, Singapore's SkillsFuture, etc.
Questions for contributors
- What level of income support would be needed if 10% of NZ jobs were displaced over 5 years?
- Is UBI the right frame, or are targeted interventions more effective?
- How should income support be funded in an economy where AI concentrates wealth?