Washington (CNN) Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang said Tuesday his idea to give Americans a universal basic income of $1,000 a month would be a "game changer."

Yang, who has centered his campaign around the policy proposal, told CNN's John Berman on "New Day" that the plan would spur economic growth and create new jobs to supplement ones lost to automation.

"If you get pushed out of a job by automation, how is $12,000 a year going to change your life?" Berman asked.

"Well, I've looked at the numbers around the country and I've spent the last seven years helping create several thousand jobs in the Midwest and the South. And so $1,000 a month would be a game-changer for tens of millions of Americans," Yang replied, adding that a universal basic income would add jobs "because of the economic activity."

"It would make our labor force much more dynamic," he said.

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