A national program will ensure autonomy and choice are protected everywhere by limiting workfare

Advocates for individuals with disabilities have promoted a positive version of “Employment First”—made possible only where preexisting disability benefits and supports are assured—which is intended to reduce stigma and segregation by increasing access to competitive labor-market jobs rather than automatically excluding individuals from work opportunities and, through them, greater job prospects and prosperity.142 Crucially, such proposals are not a substitute for disability benefits or support for individuals choosing to work with appropriate accommodations.143 Advocates may quibble over whether any feature should be “first” in a system of individualized supports that are intended to maximize choices around social engagement.144 Arguably, what is prioritized in these programs is each individual’s unconditional and universal entitlement to a full range of possibilities and supports.145 Importantly, Employment First advocates emphasize the need to preserve individual choice and autonomy146—a challenge even with a robust national job market and even for those with the protection of disability benefits. Federal UBI and JG programs at scale would similarly transform the workfare system into a truly productive scheme that rewards—but does not require—work to live. In light of the results of municipal UBI and JG programs, such as Plan Jefes y Jefes de Hogares, SEED, and New York City’s workfare reform, what lessons can be drawn to envision even broader and better approaches and to evaluate their effectiveness given a diverse range of priorities and goals?