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For comparison, Dutch students receive between 200-400 euro monthly (and do pay a heavily discounted 1800 euro college tuition), "bijstand" (which is sort of a

For comparison, Dutch students receive between 200-400 euro monthly (and do pay a heavily discounted 1800 euro college tuition), "bijstand" (which is sort of a last resort income) is 600-700 euro, unemployment compensation is 70% of the last earned wage for a limited amount of months. People above the 65 receive a "basic income" called "AOW" (algemene ouderdoms wet) which is between 750 and 1400 euros (in addition to a pension). Minimum wage for a fulltime job is around 1400 euro (1200-1300 after taxes). A starts position for someone without college pays around 10-13 euro per hour before taxes. With the current high un-employment numbers a lot of students and young people have to life on a income of 400-800 euro per month which is incredible tight. 1000 euro is a lot of money, I guess I could support something like a 400-600 "basic income" with strong incentive for people to work. Then again the AOW is incredible high and although I do support the idea behind it I do wonder how we're going to support AOW payments with the coming demographic shift.

guerrilla 13y ago
The situation is somewhat similar in Sweden, especially regarding the 'bijstand.' In our case, you'd have to re-apply each month and they would audit your spending for the previous 3 months (so that, for example, you didn't spend it all on alcohol or an Xbox.) It's also not a fixed sum but based on what they consider necessary, but beyond what I know about U.S. (specifically, California) welfare. This is not the same as unemployment benefits, but, as you say is a last resort. Unemployment benefits here are given on the condition that you show that you are currently applying to jobs. We used to get a few of these applications at our old office. People would come who weren't remotely relevant to the job, but did it just to keep getting the payments, so that's something to think consider when you mention "with strong incentive for people to work." Thanks for explaining the overall situation. I wish I knew more about Sweden's but maybe someone else can post Sweden's corresponding information with details.

guerrilla 13y ago

The situation is somewhat similar in Sweden, especially regarding the 'bijstand.' In our case, you'd have to re-apply each month and they would audit your spending for the previous 3 months (so that, for example, you didn't spend it all on alcohol or an Xbox.) It's also not a fixed sum but based on what they consider necessary, but beyond what I know about U.S. (specifically, California) welfare. This is not the same as unemployment benefits, but, as you say is a last resort. Unemployment benefits here are given on the condition that you show that you are currently applying to jobs. We used to get a few of these applications at our old office. People would come who weren't remotely relevant to the job, but did it just to keep getting the payments, so that's something to think consider when you mention "with strong incentive for people to work." Thanks for explaining the overall situation. I wish I knew more about Sweden's but maybe someone else can post Sweden's corresponding information with details.