tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7180592942896724433.post6280260647270831152..comments2023-12-13T05:02:37.426-05:00Comments on Pushed to the Left and Loving It: Unemployment and Underemployment. But What About Precarious Employment?Emily Deehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08354341672810615468noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7180592942896724433.post-43253945981764114522011-03-10T20:52:13.555-05:002011-03-10T20:52:13.555-05:00Sitting tantalizingly in a warehouse in Winnipeg a...Sitting tantalizingly in a warehouse in Winnipeg are 2,000 boxes of information about one of the most fascinating social policy experiments in Canadian history.<br /><br />http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/920145--goar-anti-poverty-success-airbrushed-out#article<br /><br />The experiment began in 1974. It was designed to test the concept of a guaranteed annual income in a small, fairly typical, community. Dauphin, a rural municipality of 13,000 midway between Winnipeg and Regina, was chosen at the behest of former Manitoba premier Ed Schreyer.<br /><br />The city’s low-income residents were lifted and kept out of poverty, using a negative income tax. (Canada Revenue Agency topped up their income if it fell below the poverty line.) They could use the money as they chose.<br /><br /><br /><br />Here is what Forget’s research has already shown:<br /><br />• During the GAI experiment, Dauphin had a dramatically lower rate of hospital admissions than similar communities in Manitoba.<br /><br />• Its high-school dropout rate fell and stayed down for a generation.<br /><br />• It had fewer accidents, serious injuries, arrests and convictions.<br /><br />• Consultations for mental illness declined.<br /><br />• And, contrary to policy-makers’ fears, people in Dauphin did not stop working or reduce their hours to get “free” money from the government. <br /><br />“In all of the indicators I could find for quality of life, people did better,” Forget says.<br /><br /><br />But she can’t do a proper cost-benefit analysis. “Someone needs to estimate the savings associated with reduced bureaucracy, better education and health outcomes and probably lower costs associated with crime and special education,” she told The Uniter, a student newspaper at the University of Winnipeg.<br /><br /><br /><br />Research Profile - Life in a Town Without Poverty<br /><br />Dr. Evelyn ForgetA new look at a radical experiment in Manitoba 35 years ago shows that guaranteeing people an annual income leads to better health<br /><br />http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/40308.html<br /><br />"Politically, there was a concern that if you began a guaranteed annual income, people would stop working and start having large families," says Dr. Forget, who presented her findings this year at the Institut national d'études démographiques in Paris. "But we found that, if anything, birth rates among the youngest women declined."<br /><br /><br /><br />"I think people living with poverty are living with a great deal of stress.<br /><br />In fact, stress is almost too mild a word for the kind of terror people live in while trying to care for their children and make good decisions for their children when they don't have the capacity to enact those decisions."<br />-- Dr. Evelyn ForgetNadine Lumleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05591663475427502169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7180592942896724433.post-66982881575271088442011-03-10T16:18:55.065-05:002011-03-10T16:18:55.065-05:00My son's in that situation now. After 17 year...My son's in that situation now. After 17 years with the same company he was laid off a year ago. In the summer he helped install pools. If it rained he didn't work. He has a full-time job now but at about 60% of what he was making before. No benefits.Emily Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08354341672810615468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7180592942896724433.post-82322344869119992102011-03-10T15:40:09.840-05:002011-03-10T15:40:09.840-05:00I remember precarious employment. No fun at all, l...I remember precarious employment. No fun at all, let me tell you.Kay L. Davieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09966266404058177742noreply@blogger.com