UNIT TEN| Work & ECONOMICS Labor, Poverty, and Employee Protection

TWO SIDES TO EVERY ISSUE “If we can but prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.” —Thomas Jefferson “True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” —Franklin Delano Roosevelt

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER What obligations does a government have to protect the economic security of its citizens? Who should foot the bills for assistance to the needy? What should the rules and requirements be? And how involved should the government be in protecting workers?

whEN DOES HELPING HURT? In 2011, the Census Bureau concluded that 49.1 percent of Americans lived in households in which at least one member received some type of government assistance —a significant increase from the 30 percent figure of the early 1980s.

THE COST OF CARE In 2012, the Pew Research Center found that 55 percent of Americans had received government benefits from at least one of the six largest social safety net programs. 27 % unemployment benefits 26% Social Security 22% Medicare 18%food stamps 11% Medicaid 8% Welfare The Congressional Budget Office found that mandatory government spending— nearly all of which goes toward social safety net programs—totaled $2 trillion in 2013, or 60 percent of federal spending; two- thirds of that mandatory spending went to Social Security and Medicare alone.

3. 3.8 TRILLION in 2015

SOCIAL SECURITY Social Security was designed as a pay-as-you-go program, in which current workers and their employers pay payroll taxes into the system, which then flow back out as monthly income to current retirees. According to the trustees, Social Security’s reserves will be fully depleted by 2033. After that point, the program will receive only enough tax revenue to pay 77 percent of scheduled benefits—unless Congress changes the benefits formula, raises the payroll tax, or raises the maximum taxable income.

SOCIAL SECURITY #s In 1983, as part of a comprehensive reform of the program, Congress raised Social Security payroll taxes to prepare for the impending retirement of the large Baby Boomer generation. In 2012, the Social Security Administration warned that approximately 10,000 “Baby Boomers” would retire each day for the next 20 years, dramatically boosting the demand for Social Security and Medicare benefits.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE Enacted as part of the Social Security Act of 1935, unemployment insurance temporarily replaces a portion of workers’ wages when they lose their jobs through no fault of their own. The program, which is overseen by the federal government but administered by the states, is financed largely by taxes collected from employers. In 2014, there were 7.4 million unemployment insurance beneficiaries, who received a total of $41.9 billion in benefits.

WELFARE The Social Security Act of 1935 created Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)—a federal cash assistance program, more commonly known as welfare, for low-income families who had one absent, disabled, or deceased parent. Congress replaced AFDC with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the current system of welfare benefits. TANF programs are operated and maintained by the states, but they use federal block grants (Federal financial aid to states) to offer a variety of services to low-income families, such as cash assistance, child care, education and job training, transportation, and aid to neglected or abused children. In general, half of TANF families must be engaged in work activities for at least 30 hours per week, while 90 percent of two-parent TANF families must work at least 35 hours per week. In fiscal year 2014, approximately 3.5 million American families received TANF assistance.

FOOD STAMPS The current incarnation of food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), served more than 46 million people in 2014—nearly one in seven Americans—at a cost of more than $74 billion. In order to receive SNAP benefits—which averaged $125 per person each month in 2014—families must meet certain low-income requirements. A University of Kentucky and Associated Press study found that working- age people, rather than children and the elderly, made up the majority of beneficiaries in American households that received SNAP benefits for the first time in 2014.2

MEDICARE Signed into law in 1965, Medicare was a landmark program of “the Great Society,” a series of progressive social programs pushed by President Lyndon Johnson. Under its current structure, Medicare is a federal health insurance program for Americans aged 65 or older, as well as Americans under the age of 65 with certain disabilities. In 2013, Medicare served 52.3 million people. Medicare is primarily funded by payroll taxes—2.9 percent of wages, split by workers and their employers—placed in a trust fund that the government uses to reimburse doctors, hospitals, and private insurance companies for health care services. In 2014, the Board of Trustees for Medicare predicted that the trust fund would support the program through 2030.

MedicaID Signed into law with Medicare in 1965, Medicaid is a health and medical services program for low-income individuals and families which served more than 72 million Americans in 2013. Under Medicaid, states make payments to health care providers and are reimbursed for a sizable share of their expenditures by the federal government. And in the wake of the Obamacare Medicaid expansion —adopted in 28 states and the District of Columbia as of March 2015—the federal government will pay all costs for newly eligible Medicaid recipients until 2016, as well as 90 percent of the costs thereafter

DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORK PLACE Equal Pay Act of 1963. This law prohibits employers from paying men and women different wages if they perform equal work in the same workplace. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII forbids employment-related discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, or childbirth. The law applies to labor organizations, employment agencies, and most employers engaged in interstate commerce that have more than 15 employees. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. This law forbids workplace discrimination against people aged 40 or older because of their age. Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This law outlawed discrimination within the federal government against qualified people with disabilities. Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This law prohibits discrimination against qualified people with disabilities both in the private sector and in state and local governments. Civil Rights Act of 1991. This law allows jury trials and the awarding of monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination. Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. This law prohibits employment discrimination based on genetic information about an applicant, employee, or former employee.42

HOMEWORK due DECEMBER 5th Read Domestic Policy: Individual Rights Complete Reading Guide