when was the federal law providing benefits for the unemployed passed
Unemployment benefits The Unemployment Insurance Act 1920 created the dole system of payments for unemployed workers.[3] The dole system provided 39 weeks of unemployment benefits to over 11 million workersâ€”practically the entire civilian working population except domestic service, farm workers, railroad men, and civil servants.
History of Social Security in the United States The Act provided benefits to retirees and the unemployed, and a lump-sum benefit at death. Payments to current retirees are financed by a payroll tax on current workers' wages, half directly as a payroll tax and half paid by the employer. The act also gave money to states to provide assistance to aged individuals (Title I), for unemployment insurance (Title III), Aid to Families with Dependent Children (Title IV), Maternal and Child Welfare (Title V), public health services (Title VI), and the blind (Title X).[3]