Seoul City to Host 'International Guaranteed Income Forum' Exploring Future Welfare Solutions... Pre-registration on 17th

'Seoul Ansimsodeuk International Forum' Held at DDP
Exploring New Welfare Systems Beyond Institutional Limits with Domestic and International Experts

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 16th that it will hold the "2022 Seoul International Guaranteed Income Forum (hereinafter Forum)" on the 6th of next month at DDP Art Hall 2 to address welfare blind spots and reduce income disparity.

The theme of the forum is "Exploring New Welfare Systems for Accompanying the Vulnerable," where researchers of income guarantee experiments from various countries will participate to share and discuss cases of income guarantee policy experiments in Seoul, the United States, Finland, and Germany. Due to prolonged COVID-19, advancements in AI technology, and changes in job structures, the lives of vulnerable groups have become more difficult. Accordingly, many cities abroad are actively discussing the necessity of income guarantee policy experiments and their implementation.

Based on this awareness, Seoul is conducting policy experiments through a pilot project of guaranteed income, and through this international forum, it aims to explore new welfare systems that overcome the limitations of the current system together with domestic and international experts. In the first half of this year, 500 households with less than 50% of the median income were selected, and the first support payment was made on July 11, officially launching the first phase of the guaranteed income pilot project.

The forum begins with a keynote speech titled "The Necessity of Income Guarantee" by Robert A. Moffitt, a poverty research expert from Johns Hopkins University. Following this, Seoul's guaranteed income will be the first topic, with presentations on "The Cost and Economic Effects of Guaranteed Income" and "Baseline Survey Results of Guaranteed Income," followed by discussions led by Michael Tubbs, who heads the U.S. Income Guarantee Market Network (with participation from over 100 cities), and Professor Heikki Hiilamo, a researcher who led Finland's basic income experiment.

Guaranteed income is a new income guarantee system that supports approximately the bottom 33% of income households by providing half the difference between the participating household income and 85% of the median income standard. It has a simpler selection process than the current National Basic Livelihood Security System and broadly supports households excluded from existing welfare.

Under the second theme, "Experiments of New Welfare Systems in Various Countries," Professor Heikki Hiilamo from Finland, J?rgen Schupp (Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute for Economic Research), the chief researcher of Germany's basic income study, and Professor Stacia West from Tennessee University, co-leader of Stockton City's policy experiment in the U.S., will participate as presenters to discuss income guarantee policy experiments conducted in their respective countries.

Kim Sang-han, Director of Welfare Policy, said, "We expect this forum to be a cornerstone of international solidarity in creating future welfare systems to solve poverty and inequality," and added, "Starting with this year's forum, Seoul plans to establish exchange and research cooperation systems with overseas cities, academic societies, and research institutions, and launch a 'Global Income Guarantee Network' for continuous discussions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.