Finland's basic income experiment to be continued according to plan

The ongoing Finnish basic income experiment will be continued according to plan until the end of 2018. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä's Government has decided that the universal basic income experiment is pi-loted in 2017–2018.

According to Päivi Sillanaukee, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, this unique experiment will proceed as planned: the results of the experiment should not be analysed until decisions have been made about its future.

In Finland, we believe in decision-making that is based on facts, Sillanaukee says.

The results of the experiment will be available after the experiment has ended. The effects of the experiment cannot be published while it is in progress, because that could influence the design of the experiment and distort the results.

Discussion about a wider reform of the social security is under way in Finland. In this work, the reformers should be careful not to fix their attention to one model only. At present, a large number of parties are engaged in discussion about the objectives and goals of the reform, and we are investigating related information available from different parts of the world. Permanent Secretary Sillanaukee says that the basic income experiment will provide plenty of valuable information for the work related to the social security reform.

Inquiries:

Päivi Sillanaukee, Permanent Secretary, tel. +358 2951 63356, [email protected]
Outi Antila, Director General, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, tel. +358 2951 63164, [email protected]
Liisa Siika-aho, Director, tel. +358 2951 63085, [email protected]