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English Reading & Writing
Mid-term Assessment (15% of your final grade)
Instructions: Read this article (https://bit.ly/3BBrvsn) then write a four paragraph (Introduction, Body 1, Body 2,
Conclusion) essay about Universal Basic Income and its effects on young citizens and their country.
Type your essay here and upload this file to Blackboard under the ‘Assignments’ tab. Essays will be marked based on the
Writing Rubric. Use the article given as well as other evidence to support your writing.
Write the final draft of your essay here: (Hint: Do not forget to write a title.)
Advantages and feasibility of universal basic income
Do you remember the Go match between Lee Se-dol and AlphaGo that caused a lot of buzz a few years ago?
The result was a great victory for AlphaGo. People have been shocked by the development of AI, and many
predict that AI will replace most jobs in the future. Elon Musk also said robots will be superior to humans in
most jobs in the future, leading to massive layoffs. Elon Musk said the introduction of Universal Basic Income
is essential. Universal Basic Income is the continuous payment of a certain amount of money to everyone
regardless of income, assets, or age. The introduction of universal basic income can boost the economy and help
many poor people. However, as much money is needed, and it is not easy to implement it for the entire people.
As such, the introduction of universal basic income is difficult to realize, but it has a positive effect on citizens
and their countries.
First, universal basic income has a positive effect on the establishment of a digital economy ecosystem.
Future jobs and economies are created from big data accumulated by people using platform services. The
manufacturing industry saw a noticeable decline in the mid-2000s and collapsed, drastically reducing jobs and
starting the platform industry. However, the Republic of Korea has not properly implemented the transition from
a fallen manufacturing-based economic ecosystem to a digital-based ecosystem. This ecosystem transformation
is inevitably led by the youth of the MZ generation. In other words, the growth and innovation of the Korean
platform industry depend on the creative capabilities of young people. However, according to the employment
index of young people (25-34) in OECD countries, Korea's employment rate for college graduates was only
75.2%. It ranks 31st, behind the U.K. (90.6 percent), Germany (88.4 percent), and Japan (87.8 percent). Due to
this unemployment rate, young people feel the burden of getting a job and cannot focus on research activities. If
the state pays a certain portion of the minimum cost of living for these teenagers, free time for young people will
increase. Young people with some guaranteed livelihood and time will create more ideas and jobs that can
revive the data economy.
Secondly, the feasibility of universal basic income. The introduction of universal basic income can put the
country's economy at risk. If 100,000 won is paid to the entire nation every month, about 62 trillion won is
needed for a year. However, welfare funds consistently provided in Korea are about 50 trillion won. In other
words, even if welfare resources are replaced with universal basic income, it is not enough. However, 100,000
won is an absurdly insufficient amount. If so, if 1 million won is paid to the entire nation every month, the total
amount country need will be 620 trillion won. This is a burdensome amount well over the one-year budget. To
cover the amount, high-income earners have no choice but to pay more taxes. In 2018, the income tax rate for
high-income earners was raised from 40% to 42%, and from 2021, a separate taxation section for income earners
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with an annual income of 1 billion won or more has been created, applying an income tax rate of 45%. If more
taxes are collected here, the burden on high-income earners will increase several times, so there will be a
backlash from many people.
In summary, the introduction of universal basic income has many positive effects, but it is not easy to realize
this immediately. In fact, many experiments have been conducted in several countries, including Finland, Spain,
and the United States, to see if the introduction of universal basic income has a positive effect. However, they
did not prove the positive aspect of the introduction of universal basic income because they did not produce
clear results. It is said that a three-year universal basic income experiment will be conducted on 2 million people
in Germany in 2023. I hope that the country's economy will develop further by proving the positive aspects and
feasibility of universal basic income.
Bibliography: The bibliography must be organised alphabetically.
1. Kim, K.H. (2022, Jan 06). Korea's Youth Jobs in 2022
https://news.mt.co.kr/mtview.php?no=2022010416221711921
2. Kim, T.I. (2022, Aug 01) Current Status and Challenges of Welfare Expenditure in Korea
https://www.peoplepower21.org/welfarenow/1902722
3. Kim, S.H. (2022, Mar 08) Punitive taxes concentrated on high-income earners, wealthy people, and
large companies should be corrected.
https://www.hankyung.com/economy/article/2022030830611
4. Lee, J.B (2021, Aug 11) This is the common decision made by countries that have experimented with
basic income.
https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/24125961#home
5. Sheffey, A. (2021, Aug 21). Elon Musk says we need universal basic income because 'in the future,
physical work will be a choice'
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-universal-basic-income-physical-work-choice-2021-8