HELSINKI: Finland’s basic income program that drew international attention is coming to an end, the Finnish government announced Tuesday.
The pilot program that paid about 2,000 randomly-chosen unemployed Finnish people a monthly check of €560 ($685) will stop by the end of the year, the BBC reports.
As welfare programs mourned the end of the experiment, the Finnish government denied claims the program was unsuccessful, and social affairs official Miska Simanainen said it was actually “proceeding as planned.
The program, which started January 2017, was the first of its kind in Europe. The government hoped the extra money would fuel the economy and innovation. The unemployment rate in Finland exceeds 8%. By comparison, the U.S. has an unemployment rate of 4.1%, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
