Some critics of basic income programs say that giving people “free” money will make them less likely to work. But a new study from Germany has found the opposite.
The long-running basic income study, called Mein Grundeinkommen, or My Basic Income, found that people who received no-strings-attached payments continued to work despite receiving monthly checks.
“Contrary to widespread claims, receiving a universal basic income was not a reason for participants in the study to quit their jobs,” the researchers said in their findings.
The study ran for three years, during which 122 participants received $1,200 monthly payments to spend however they wanted. The experiment also had a control group of 1,580 people who did not receive a basic income. In the findings, the researchers said that the percentage of participants who had a job remained “almost identical” in both the control group and the group receiving the basic income.
“There was also no change in the number of hours worked a week,” the study says. “On average, all study participants worked 40 hours — with or without a basic income.”
The idea of universal basic income, or UBI, has gained traction in the United States and other countries in recent years. A UBI is when a government cuts a regular check to its entire population regardless of financial status to support, but not replace, their income.
Numerous cities and counties in the United States have also experimented with guaranteed basic income programs. These programs are similar to a UBI because they both provide no-strings-attached payments, but a guaranteed basic income typically goes to smaller, low-income groups, or vulnerable populations like new moms, Black women, or trans people.
Critics of these programs have likened them to “socialism.”
In 2024, lawmakers in South Dakota, Iowa, and Idaho passed laws banning basic income programs at the city and county level. Republican State Sen. John Wiik, who sponsored the bill in South Dakota, said in a Senate committee meeting that basic income programs are a “socialist idea” that redistributes people’s hard-earned money.
“Guaranteed income programs, also known as basic income, undercut the dignity in earning a dollar, and they’re a one-way ticket to government dependency,” Wiik said.
The German study, however, found that recipients maintained steady employment, showed improved mental health, strengthened self-determination, and improved financial stability.
“With a basic income, people actively build sustainable financial security for themselves — and also spend more money on others,” the study says.
Jürgen Schupp, a researcher for the study, said that the results, particularly those related to labor, show that many clichés about universal basic income need to be reconsidered.
“I believe that for the urgently needed restructuring of social systems, all reform options must be considered — including universal basic income,” he said in the report.
