The researchers expected some people to stop working. That was the hypothesis many critics led with when South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance launched its basic income pilot in January 2025, distributing 650,000 won per month — roughly €430 — to half a million citizens regardless of employment status. The first-year data tells a different story.
Labour force participation among pilot participants actually rose by 3.1 percentage points compared to the control group, driven almost entirely by increased part-time and freelance work among recipients who had previously been outside the formal economy: caregivers, informal workers, and people with disabilities.
The mental health signal was striking. Psychiatric emergency admissions in pilot provinces fell by 18 percent year-on-year, a reduction the health ministry's actuaries attribute partly to reduced financial anxiety. The effect was strongest among single-parent households.
Small business registrations in pilot areas rose 12 percent above the national average. Interviews with new business owners suggest the monthly payment served as a de-facto runway — enough cushion to absorb the first few months of uncertain income from a new enterprise.
"We gave people a floor, not a ceiling," said the programme's lead economist. "It turns out that when people are not afraid of falling, they are more willing to reach."