Basic unconditional income is a kind of social benefit paid to all citizens of the Czech Republic, regardless of their economic contribution and social situation. It is, of course, a benefit of equal value and does not require the fulfillment of any criteria for payment; it is simply unconditional. Is such a thing possible?
A basic unconditional income can only be introduced if certain conditions are met. However, at present, in the Czech Republic, the amount would not even cover basic subsistence needs and would fall below the poverty threshold. In our country, however, public interest in unconditional income is growing.
An audit by BDO confirmed the introduction of unconditional income as a utopia
An analysis conducted in 2017 by BDO, which provides consulting and auditing services to companies and state-owned enterprises, BDO found that in the Czech Republic, so-called autonomous robots The study examined whether there are currently enough jobs that can be carried out by so-called autonomous robots in the Czech Republic. It also analyzed the situation that would arise after the discontinuation of the operation of the highly interconnected and complex social security system,
and it examined whether the Czech Republic\’s social security system is currently capable of performing the tasks that could be performed by autonomous robots.
There has been a lively debate among people on this topic over the years, mostly complaining about the dysfunction of the Labor Department in not assigning appropriate jobs to applicants. This system also simplifies the job search process through a box that allows access to a web portal with job postings. It is already possible to search for jobs on the Internet. This would eliminate contact with agencies and wasted time going to job centers. The agencies would move on to other jobs, and the agencies, as supervisors, would be less friendly to those looking for work, and bullying would occur more frequently.
Unconditional income in the Czech Republic cannot be relied upon yet
The introduction of unconditional income has been tested in Finland for several months. In Switzerland, the introduction of unconditional income was rejected in a referendum.
In any case, unconditional income benefits must be at least high enough to cover necessary expenses. And in the Czech Republic today, this would be inefficient, and the income would probably not even reach a subsistence level. In this case, it is estimated that the benefit would amount to only SEK 6,000 per month
.