There are two answers to this: First of all, the idea of basic income is that it is universal: there won't be a divide between those who have basic income but

There are two answers to this: First of all, the idea of basic income is that it is universal: there won't be a divide between those who have basic income but not work, and those who have work but not basic income. Everybody will have basic income; the divide will merely be between those who have work and those who don't. The solution this divide is to eliminate the minimum wage, which acts as a significant hurdle to creating employment. In a basic-income world, there is no more moral argument for minimum wage to exist, because basic sustenance no longer comes from labour. Everybody will have sufficient food and shelter whether they work or not, so the exploitation of labour is no longer possible, and the safeguard of minimum wage is no longer needed. In a basic income world, labour becomes a privilege for both the employee and the employer. Eliminating minimum wages means that employment can become a much smoother continuum of activities, rather than the sustenance-or-nothing proposition that it is right now. This opens up a vast range of lower-wage job opportunities, which people could purse when they want to, not actually because they need to. Want to earn £2/hr working in a community theatre? No problem. Want to earn £50/week helping to organise a supper club or being an assistant at a hackerspace? Go for it. Under a minimum wage regime, it's not even legal to employ people in this capacity; under a basic income regime, the distinction between "hobby" and "job" will blur into irrelevance. This means that you will be able to create dramatically more work -- and higher-quality work, because it would only be things that people pursue out of choice rather than necessity -- with a basic income than you could ever have without one. EDIT -- As to how to handle the transition period: phase in the Basic Income at the same rate that you phase out Minimum Wage and all other forms of income support. A good Basic Income should be roughly equivalent to a good minimum wage; in most countries this works out to be about 50% of the mean individual income. If the Basic Income payments are phased in at the same rate that the minimum wage and other benefits are phased out, then there will be virtually no "losers". High-earners will get a little bump from the Basic Income; low-earners will see their take-home pay unchanged, but they will be increasingly less reliant on their jobs for it. This will put them in a better bargaining position vis-a-vis undesirable jobs, while new types of low-wage desirable jobs will become possible as the minimum wage is reduced. Do this transition over a course of a decade and it should be relatively smooth.