Old-Age and Survivors Insurance for Agricultural and Domestic Workers and the Self-Employed

A report exploring alternative methods of extending coverage to the self-employed and to agricultural and domestic employees was recently published by the Division of Tax Research of the Treasury Department? Because of the pertinence of its subject, the Bulletin is reproducing here the introductory section of the report. 1 The Extension of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance to Agricultural and Domestic Service Workers and to the Self-Employed, November 1947. The study does not discuss the question of public policy involved in extending coverage or offer specific recommendations. United States for the first time with a general old-age insurance program and shifted this country from among the more backward to the more advanced countries in the field of social security. Its comprehensive character notwithstanding, the 1935 act provided old-age insurance coverage for only part of the country's population; It left large groups of people outside the program. The principal groups excluded from the benefits of the old-age insurance program were agricultural workers, domestic service workers, self-employed persons, government employees , employees of educational, religious , and charitable organizations, and persons employed in the railroad industry. In 1946, these categories included about 30 million people and represented approximately 40 percent of the country's paid employment. The exclusion of the several groups from the program was prompted by different reasons. Railroad employees were covered by a separate system established by the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935. Government employees were excluded partly because some were covered under existing pen