 What happens to drafted workers?
What's more important—Man's conquest of space, or one spaceman's life? It was better to retire on a limited crediting, on a confoundedly limited crediting, than to take the two or three more trips in hopes of attaining a higher standard. His friend said drily, "Either of us could have volunteered for pilot training forty years ago, Lofting. Percentages were against his ever being drafted into industry. Automation being what it is, only a fraction of the population is ever called up. He is now legally eligible for retirement. He was drafted into the working force reserves, served his time, and is now free from toil for the balance of his life. The man is the only trained space pilot in the world. If it is admitted that our organization has degenerated to the point that we haven't a single pilot, then it might well be that the Economic Planning Board, and especially those cloddies on Appropriations, will terminate the whole Department of Space Exploration." Have you never heard of the seaman who dreamed of returning to the village of his birth and buying a chicken farm or some such? Back when he had finished basic education at the age of twenty-five and was registered for the labor draft, there hadn't been a chance in a hundred that he'd have the bad luck to have his name pulled. Law prevented him from ever being called up for contributing to the country's labor needs again. They had attempted to give everyone work by reducing the number of working hours in the day, and the number of working days in the week. It finally became ludicrous when employees of industry were working but two days a week, two hours a day. It became obvious that it was more practical to have one worker putting in thirty-five hours a week and getting to know his job well, than it was to have a score of employees, each working a few hours a week and none of them ever really becoming efficient. The only fair thing was to let the technologically unemployed remain unemployed, with their Inalienable Basic stock as the equivalent of unemployment insurance, while the few workers still needed put in a reasonable number of hours a day, a reasonable number of weeks a year and a reasonable number of years in a life time. When new employees were needed, a draft lottery was held. The dissatisfaction those chosen might feel at their poor luck was offset by the fact that they were granted additional Variable Basic shares, according to the tasks they fulfilled.
 They train and work for a time, then retire with extra funds.
 They train and work for a time, then retire with extra funds.  They receive no pay, and have to undergo training and work for some time  They are called upon throughout their life for periods of work.  They work a short period of time, then return to normal life.