Stephen Nuñez testifies on basic income to New York City Council

Guaranteed Income Project Lead Stephen Nuñez provided testimony to the New York City Council’s Committee on Civil Service & Labor this November. He related his expertise on the existing research related to automation and automation’s impacts on labor markets. As various organizations and even policymakers are revisiting basic income policy ideas due to fears of impending automation-fueled job loss, JFI’s research provided a grounding understanding of the evidence that automation is just one of many variables contributing to increasing precarity among especially low-income individuals. Basic income is a policy with a variety of designs and applications that may be part of a host of solutions to persistent, and growing conditions of household economic vulnerability across New York, the U.S., and the world.

We are glad Steve was able to give helpful insights to the city council, and we look forward to being a resource to others in the future.

From Steve’s testimony:

“It is good that the issue of automation has called attention to the fact that too many are at the mercy of economic forces beyond their control. But…automation is not a unique threat nor does it require a unique response. American households have already faced decades of stagnant wages, growing inequality, and increasing precarity. Rather than worry about an unlikely future in which robots have taken all of our jobs, we should focus on our present, dismal state; it should be sufficient to motivate efforts to bolster our social safety net and guard against displacement and disruption regardless of source.”

Read the full testimony here.