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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 15. The Negro in the Public Economy - 8. Specialized Social Welfare Programs during the Period After 1935 - 9. The Social Security Program
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Chapter 15. The Negro in the Public Economy 357
less pronounced than in the North. He is worst off in the rural South,
where the most apparent racial discrimination is shown, at the same time
as the general relief standards are very low. The South continues to be
inconsistent in its treatment of Negroes.
There seems to have been a change for the worse, however, in the
position of the Negro women. Those among them who cannot receive
old age benefits, old age assistance, or aid for their dependent children
seem to have greater difficulties in getting public assistance—other than
surplus commodities—^than they experienced prior to 1936. On the whole,
there is, at least in the South, and particularly in the rural South, little
adequate provision for such needy people who happen not to be provided
for in any of the specialized programs administered, financed or sponsored
by the federal government. There is no public assistance for many unem-
ployed able-bodied workers, for instance, who are not covered by unem-
ployment compensation or when W.P.A. grants do not suffice for more
than a part of them. On the other hand, there are certain’ categories of
Negro and white clients who may receive larger grants than were usual
under the previous program.
9, The Social Security Program
Conditions are different, however, in different parts of the social welfare
system. ^^Social security” has a position quite apart from the ordinary relief
programs. Whether or not there is much direct discrimination against
Negroes in the administration of the Social Security Law is difficult to say,
since there is comparatively little direct information available on how
Negroes are actually treated. Conditions may vary from one part of the
system to another. There is little likelihood of any direct discrimination in
the old age benefit system which is administered entirely by the federal
government.® Unemployment compensation is technically administered by
the states, but there is a certain federal collaboration, and the basic provi-
sions are comparatively uniform since they were more or less sponsored
by the federal government, and all are geared to the federal Social Security
Act of 1935. Workmen’s compensation for injuries in the course of employ-
ment, on the other hand, is entirely a matter of state initiative and state
administration.
What we do know, however, is that all these social insurance systems
are so constructed that Negroes, along with certain groups of white work-
*The Old Age and Survivors* Benefit System should be distinguished from Old Age
Assistance. The latter is a form of tax-financed relief supported by both federal and state
(and often local) governments. The Old Age Benefit System is financed by means of payroll
taxes paid by both employers and employees. (See alphabetically listed articles on the various
subjects in Russell Sage Foundation, Russell H. Kurtz [Editor], Social Work Yearbook^
* 94 * [»94*}] and Richard A, Lester, Economics of Labor [194.1], p. 438.)
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