How the Great British Bakeoff Showed Why We Need UBI
This article is in a slightly different format since it’s an opinion piece.
I am of the opinion that a universal basic income (UBI) in the United States can give Americans the opportunity and flexibility to make pivots in their career and lives. The opportunity that UBI can provide was apparent after watching Season 12 of the “Great British Bakeoff”, which aired in 2021, almost 1-year into the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
In this season, Chiggs Parmar, one of the bakers, made his way onto a show comprised of some of the best amateur bakers in the United Kingdom after only starting his baking career the year before. Chiggs, who was a 40-year-old sales manager, went from working a 9-5 to receive a handshake from Paul Hollywood after a little less than a year of pursuing a passion for baking during the lockdown. This story highlights the power of pandemic stimulus and how the benefits can be extended by transitioning to a society where we provide a universal basic income, or a National Dividend, to all citizens.
The Opportunity
The Covid-19 lockdown gave Chiggs the opportunity to explore other career fields, and in his case, he was able to cultivate a new passion: baking. This new passion, given time and energy, lead him towards a new life and career direction.
I’ve never spoken to Chiggs personally, but it seems that the free time offered by the pandemic lockdowns allowed him to re-orient and develop new skills, which in turn allowed him to pivot career fields. I’m hypothesizing that the stimulus checks coupled with free time allowed many others to pivot into new fields and passions as well.
If we adopted UBI, or a national dividend, in the long term, we will be providing generations to come with the same conditions that will allow them to make career transitions and develop new, necessary skills without fear of financial instability. If you fear that quitting your job to go back to school or to pursue a different passion that will mean you won’t be able to pay your bills, then chances are you are less likely to make a change. Not everyone has the luxury of a large savings account or family members that can temporarily support them if they decide to quit their job to pursue a different career path. Because of this, there may be many Americans that seek to change their career or develop new skills but are worried that leaving their jobs will mean their families will be financially burdened. If a national dividend removed that worry, I believe that it will be much easier for people to pivot towards new ways to provide value to the economy and society, ones that are more allied with their passions.
Drawbacks of Current Unemployment Benefits
The unemployment benefits offered today are limited :
- The amount you receive is often limited and is contingent on trying to get employed again as soon as possible. This doesn’t help someone who is trying to explore alternative career paths.
- You don’t get it if you quit. If you make a purposeful decision to pursue a different career, or get training and education, you won’t have any support.
- If you leave the workforce to take care of a child, you don’t qualify. This doesn’t make sense to me because our entire global economy is sustained by population stability. However, we don’t offer compensation to the stay-at-home parents whose job is to raise a child to be a responsible, civic-minded, virtuous adult who will contribute to society in the future.
The Future
I believe that advancements in technology and automation won’t necessarily create a future where we have vast unemployment, but rather, we will have a future where the jobs and occupations will look different. In the future, the required skillsets will change more frequently than before. Because of this, we will need a method for people to change, pivot, and explore new career paths and outlets for creativity without the worry of financial instability. This is where a national dividend can come in and help provide flexibility and opportunity for everyone.