[RobertoG]

There is the idea of job guarantee as an automatic stabilizer too.

The government grants a job to anyone that wants to work at a minimum wage salary. When unemployment grow, the government automatically expend more in the economy because more people access to the job guarantee.

When the economy recovers the private sector take workers away from the job guarantee through paying a little more than the minimum wage (or the same and better conditions) and the government spending is reduced.

It's both an inflation and an unemployment stabilizer. UBI doesn't have those properties.

[jmaygarden]

What's the incentive to perform if you cannot be fired? A "guaranteed job" might as well be a simple unemployment check.

[RobertoG]

The reasoning is that many studies show that people that have not worked for a while have a difficult time being hired again.

There are different ideas, but, I suppose that you could see it like a training program too.

Also, there are some supposed psychological benefits to work. And there is always something to do at the local community level, so it would not be totally unproductive work.

[JSavageOne]

The incentive is in the reward you get for performing well.

Also I don't think it's necessary that a job guarantee make an employee immune from being fired. I'd imagine a job guarantee would have all kinds of jobs ranging from relatively simple (eg. cleaning) to more complex (eg. science). If you're in a more demanding department and underperforming, you could get fired and have to apply to another job in another department.

For example, the military is sort of like a job guarantee in the sense that anyone meeting the physical bar is effectively hired. But any military member can get discharged.

[Can_Not]

We actually have the opposite problem right now, what's the incentive to do _the right thing_ if you can be fired for not following orders?

Remember that 40% of americans can't afford a $400 emergency.

[dredmorbius]

Job satisfaction / better jobs.

The guaranteed job need not be pleasant. Hell, many already aren't.

But a job would be guaranteed and would meet basic needs.

[generatorguy]

people would rather be unemployed than have an unpleasant minimum wage job.

[dredmorbius]

That becomes an interesting dynamic expecially between universal guaranteed income and universal guaranteed employment.

But the original question was how to provide incentive. Assuming able-bodied persons must provide some work, opportunities for advancement, more pay, or more favourable environment, and the prospect of less attractive work, remain. Military and similar environments provide models, e.g., latrine duty.

Most people would prefer some useful occupation, I suspect, however humble.

And again, with guaranteed employment, even the worst job would provide a livelihood.

[lnsru]

Soviet Union had this job guarantee. It didn’t work well. Motivation of people forced to be somewhere all day was very low.

[JSavageOne]

There's a huge difference between guaranteeing everyone who wants a job a job, and forcing everyone in the entire country's population to work for the government while setting their salaries the same and not rewarding productivity.

[llamaz]

I have no desire to defend the Soviet Union, but out of curiosity, do you think our current system rewards productivity? I'm thinking along the lines of the movie "Office Space".

I don't know much about the USSR, but I don't think they set everyone's salaries the same or distributed money equally, or any other nonsense like that.

[RobertoG]

I don't see the parallel, a job guarantee is supplying jobs to people that otherwise would be at home.

[_nalply]

So the government creates a lot of bullshit jobs when neccessary.

[RobertoG]

I don't think they have to be necessarily, or, at least, totally, bullshit jobs.

Also, it's not only, even not mainly, a social program, but an automatic stabilizer in the economy.

It gives power to the workers too, because there is always an, even if with low pay, alternative available.

[jostylr]

But that assumes the jobs guarantee is providing a reasonable job environment. Presumably these jobs would have bosses who can be cruel or can be prejudiced. And this being the job of last resort means they would not have an alternative.

I don't think there is a great track record of jobs being run by the government (or farmed out by the government to other organizations) as being idyllic workplaces.

Also a bs job is soul crushing and work-ethic destroying.

The only true power comes from being able to walk away from the control of anyone else, being able to simply say "no". For that, one needs a UBI.