This is it man, I have seen a lot of great sci-fi that seem too real to enjoy. Have you ever watched Black Mirror? a lot of the things in their episodes are really out there but, plausable.

The living wage thing, I'd agree could be a bad thing. But, then again, imagine everyone has the same amount of money for doing nothing. But, you can have X amount more for working part-time or even full-time. I'd say 95% of people would be out doing something. But, like you say, keep an eye on those countries and see what happens.