Seoul City Explores 'Safe Income Pilot Project' with Economic and Welfare Experts

Special Session on Related Topics Held at the 'Economic Studies Joint Conference'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 1st that it will operate the 'Seoul Ansim Income Special Session' at the '2023 Joint Economic Conference.'

The 'Seoul Ansim Income Special Session,' co-hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Korean Economic Association, will be held tomorrow from 9:20 AM at the Korea University International Hall. The special session's theme is 'Solutions to Income Polarization and Welfare Blind Spot Resolution, Seoul Ansim Income,' where experts in economics and welfare will participate to discuss Seoul Ansim Income and various future income security systems.

First, Professor Kisung Park of Sungshin Women's University will present on 'The Cost and Economic Effects of Ansim Income,' highlighting the problems and limitations of the current welfare system and explaining the distinctiveness of Ansim Income. He will also compare the budgets required for Ansim Income, Universal Basic Income, and the expansion of the current welfare system, analyzing the impact of these three systems on income disparity, employment, and gross domestic product.

Next, Myungsuk Ryu, Policy Research Director at the Seoul Welfare Foundation, who oversees the evaluation research of the Ansim Income pilot project, will introduce the overall pilot project and the types and main characteristics of the first-phase participating households. He will present baseline survey results conducted across seven areas?work and employment, household, and life attitudes?to understand the effects of Ansim Income.

In the following discussion, chaired by Seongjin Kang, President of the Korean International Economic Association, panelists including Sangho Nam, Senior Research Fellow at Adelman Economic Research Institute, Hankyung Seong, Professor at the University of Seoul, Hyemi Yoo, Professor at Hanyang University, and Youngwook Lee, Director of Fiscal and Social Policy Research at KDI, will discuss desirable future income security policy directions. The audience present will also participate by asking questions and sharing opinions.

The city plans to actively cooperate with academic societies and others to improve the pilot project model and increase social consensus on policies so that the Ansim Income pilot project can be promoted as a nationwide agenda.

Suyeon Lee, Welfare Planning Officer of Seoul City, stated, “A transition to a new income security system is necessary to solve the challenges of deepening polarization and poverty exacerbated by the three-year COVID-19 pandemic,” adding, “We hope this discussion will be an opportunity to gather wisdom to establish a future-oriented welfare model that breaks the cycle of poverty.”

Meanwhile, since last year, the city has been promoting the Seoul Ansim Income pilot project, a new future income security model, to resolve income polarization and welfare blind spots that hinder social integration and to prepare for various social risks such as structural changes in jobs due to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.