SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - As a recent college graduate, Lee Geon-hyung found himself in the same situation facing countless other young South Koreans.
“There was only part-time work in this job market. And the job that I had at the time just didn’t provide enough income,” says Lee.
Despite having a business degree, Lee worked as an office assistant at a semiconductor manufacturer. The company had just cut his pay, leaving him struggling to afford basic expenses in Suwon, a city on the southern outskirts of Seoul.
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“At a certain age, no one wants to ask your parents for help,” Lee says.
His story is common. A stunning 27% of South Koreans aged 15-29 are either unemployed or under-employed, according to government data.
But on Lee's 24th birthday, things got a little easier. That’s when he became eligible to receive a quarterly check from the government for about $220.
It’s part of a bold economic project in South Korea’s most populous province, which is finding more and more ways to give cash to its residents.
Besides giving regular checks to 24-year-olds, Gyeonggi Province has also sent cash to all its residents during the coronavirus pandemic — on top of the stimulus payments the central government has given South Koreans.
Those kinds of direct cash payments are becoming more popular globally, especially during the pandemic, as governments try to stimulate their economies and assist those unable to work.
The trend is encouraging to supporters of universal basic income, or UBI, who say all citizens should receive a regular amount of money from the government.
For decades, UBI was dismissed as a fringe economic idea — “just a theory in the textbooks,” according to Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung, the driving force behind his province’s UBI project.
“But I think this belief is now gaining momentum,” he told VOA in a recent interview.
Lee is a longtime proponent of UBI. He frequently mentions the “fourth industrial revolution,” which refers to how automation and other technologies are reshaping the way humans manufacture products and interact with each other.
No longer is it necessary to visit a bank, shopping mall, movie theater, or restaurant. For many, even physically going to a workplace is a thing of the past.
The pandemic has dramatically accelerated that dynamic, with social distancing measures ensuring as many tasks as possible are conducted digitally, without human interaction. In South Korea, one of the world’s most technologically advanced societies, it's referred to as the “untact” environment.
“Since the pandemic began, we’ve seen the digital untact environment that was created, and how you don’t need as much human labor to produce things anymore,” says Governor Lee. “Without UBI, I believe many feel the very capitalist system itself is in crisis.”
To help prevent what they predict is a coming jobs apocalypse, UBI supporters say governments should provide a living wage to all citizens, regardless of their income level or job status. Not only would it protect jobs and reduce poverty, they argue, it would also stimulate the economy.
A surprisingly wide range of figures have supported some form of guaranteed income — from political philosopher Thomas Paine and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. to Silicon Valley executives, such as tech magnate Elon Musk and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Dozens of countries have adopted limited forms of UBI, including Finland, Kenya, Iran, and even the U.S. state of Alaska, which gives a yearly payment to citizens thanks to a state-owned investment fund financed by oil revenues.
In Gyeonggi, universal basic income takes the form of a local currency, meaning the money is deposited into an account and must be spent at registered local businesses within a certain amount of time.
“Setting an expiration date on the funds has a huge impact,” says Lee Chung-hwan, who operates a traditional outdoor market in Suwon.
On a recent brisk weekday morning, the market was vibrant, with many shoppers using their local currency cards to buy fresh cuts of beef or bags of kimchi, Korea’s ubiquitous side dish.
“The relief funds have been a huge help to our market,” says Lee. “We have people coming here who would ordinarily never shop at a local market.”
“And they also buy more,” he adds.
Yu Chang-geun, who runs a Suwon coffee shop, says more customers use the local currency than a regular credit or debit card.
“It helps a lot, especially for small and medium sized businesses,” he adds.