The whole point of making the government a general job provider is to create competition. The terms set by the government would become the base line for jobs, if your job was worse you would switch to the government job. It would also strengthen employee's negotiating position if they didn't have to fear going bankrupt if they leave their job. If your guaranteed a survivable base line, it is much easier to say no when your managers ask you for unpaid extra work or the company begins paring back your other benefits.

With that minimum line in place, minimum wage and other job regulations could be removed. That would give companies and employees greater flexibility in setting up jobs without giving an overwhelming negotiation advantage to the companies. That isn't to say it would be easy. There would be big issues over setting the base line in Congress, and care would have to be taken to prevent abuse. I can see part time and seasonal employees abusing such a program by constantly switching back and forth.

Jay

That is the same sort of idea, but what I'm talking about here requires you work for the government in exchange for a basic income. So this excludes people who don't or can't work for whatever reason. It would also be a higher level of income then that sort of system, as this is designed to be enough to actually live on, rather then a supplement to normal salary.

Jay