Abstract
In industrialized countries in general, and in South Korea in particular, the dualization of labor markets has generated an increasing gap between insiders, who enjoy decent wages and earnings-related social security benefits, and outsiders, who must cope with precarious work conditions, uncertain earnings, and limited access to social programs. This chapter discusses the potential contribution of a partial basic income—i.e., a ‘modest’ basic income in terms of amount—to the reduction of this gap.
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Notes
- 1.
These classic definitions by David Rueda are certainly a matter of debate, even if all alternative definitions actually insist on the same essential features of labor market vulnerability. Schwander and Häusermann, for example, argue that what all “outsiders” share—despite within-group heterogeneity—is a high risk of “experiencing unemployment or atypical employment” (2013: 252). See also the discussion in Busemeyer and Kemmerling (2020).
- 2.
- 3.
One of the most careful discussions of the exit arguments in favor of UBI can be found in Birnbaum and De Wispelaere (2016).
- 4.
Note that in May 2020, the Korean government also “paid out 1 million won (US$900) to households with four members and 400,000 won (US$350) for single-person households” within the framework of its Emergency Relief Allowance (ERA), as a response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 5.
Our translation from Dutch.
- 6.
The case for a UBI combined with high-quality services broadly understood is also made, for instance, by Simon Birnbaum in an article in which he focuses on the “precarization of labour markets” (Birnbaum, 2021).
- 7.
On the social legitimacy of UBI, see a.o. Chrisp et al. (2020).
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Vanderborght, Y. (2023). A Pro-outsider Policy? Why an Unconditional Basic Income Could Contribute to Tackling the Causes and Effects of Labor Market Dualization. In: Chung, MH. (eds) Basic Income in Korea and Beyond. Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09202-2_9
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