Finland’s government under Prime Minister Juha Sipilä chose basic income as one option for reforming social security. The stated goals included reducing “income traps” (very high benefit withdrawal rates that can make work pay little), cutting bureaucracy, and adapting to changing work patterns.
A European Commission-supported policy brief described Finland’s planned basic income experiment and its motivations. It also documented the reserved budget (€20 million for 2017–2018) and the plan to run a nationwide experiment with a treatment group and a control group.
Finland’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health drafted legislation for a basic income experiment and requested public statements on the proposal. The draft centered on a partial basic income and a randomized design focused on people receiving unemployment benefits.
Finland’s Parliament passed the act authorizing the basic income experiment. The design set payments at €560 per month and selected 2,000 people from working-age recipients of Kela-administered unemployment benefits; participation was mandatory for those selected.
The experiment started at the beginning of 2017. Participants received €560 per month, tax-exempt and unconditional, even if they took paid work; outcomes were compared to a control group using administrative (register) data and later surveys.
During the experiment, Kela emphasized that register-based employment data would only be available with a delay. This meant employment effects could not be reliably reported until after the experiment ended, shaping expectations about what “early results” could show.
From January 2018, Finland introduced an “activation model” requiring unemployed people to show activity (for example, at least 18 hours of work in a three-month period) or face a reduction in benefits. Researchers later noted this policy change could complicate interpreting the experiment’s second-year employment outcomes.
In 2018, Finland decided not to expand or extend the trial beyond its planned end date. Reporting at the time emphasized that the two-year endpoint was part of the original design, even though Kela had explored options for a broader experiment.
The payments and formal trial period concluded at the end of 2018. This endpoint allowed researchers to begin assembling full two-year register-based evidence and to connect it with survey and interview findings about recipients’ experiences.
A Ministry of Social Affairs and Health report (edited by the research team) released preliminary results focused mainly on the first year of employment outcomes. It reported essentially no measurable employment effect in 2017, while pointing to survey evidence of improved confidence and perceived well-being among recipients.
Finland repealed the activation model, ending benefit cuts tied to the activity requirement after December 31, 2019. The repeal mattered for the basic income experiment’s legacy because the activation model had been a major outside change that affected the broader unemployment system during the experiment’s second year.
Final results were released on May 6, 2020, combining two-year register data with survey and interview evidence. Summaries emphasized that employment effects were small overall, while self-reported well-being, perceived economic security, and mental well-being were better for the basic income group.
The OECD summarized the experiment as showing no significant increase in employment, alongside improved subjective well-being. It also highlighted limitations that mattered for interpretation, including the narrow target group (mainly long-term unemployed) and the interaction with other benefits and policy changes during the trial period.
Kela’s later synthesis presented a clear end-state: the experiment produced strong evidence that a small, unconditional payment to a narrow group did not substantially change employment, but did improve reported well-being and security. The results became a widely cited reference point for designing future guaranteed income trials and for understanding how policy context can shape experimental outcomes.
Finland Basic Income Experiment (2017–2018)