[Note: According to the Social Security Administration website, thispamphlet was published in 1936.]
Beginning November 24, 1936, the United States Governmentwill set up a Social Security account for you, if youare eligible. To understand your obligations, rights, aridbenefits you should read the following general explanation.
There is now a law in this country which will give about 26million working people something to live on when they areold and have stopped working. This law, which gives other benefits,too, was passed last year by Congress and is called the SocialSecurity Act.
Under this law the United States Government will send checksevery month to retired workers, both men and women, after theyhave passed their 65th birthday and have met a few simple requirementsof the law.
This means that if you work in some factory, shop, mine, mill,J. store, office, or almost any other kind of business or industry,you will be earning benefits that will come to you later on. Fromthe time you are 65 years old, or more, and stop working, you willget a Government check every month of your life, if you haveworked some time,(one day or more) in each of any 5 years after1936, and have earned during that time a total of $2,000 or more.
The checks will come to you as a right. You will get themregardless of the amount of property or income you may have.They are what the law calls "Old-Age Benefits" under the SocialSecurity Act. If you prefer to keep on working after you are 65,the monthly checks from the Government will begin coming toyou whenever you decide to retire.
The Amount of Your Checks
How much you will get when you are 65 years old will dependentirely on how much you earn in wages from your industrial orbusiness employment between January 1, 1937, and your 65th birthday.A man or woman who gets good wages and has a steady jobmost of his or her life can get as much as $85 a month for life afterage 65. The least you can get in monthly benefits, if you comeunder the law at all, is $10 a month.
Suppose you are making $25 a week and are young enough now togo on working for 40 years. If you make an average of $25 a weekfor 52 weeks in each year, your check when you are 65 years oldwill be $53 a month for the rest of your life. If you make $50 aweek, you will get $74.50 a month for the rest of you life afterage 65.
But suppose you are about 55 years old now and have 10 years towork before you are 65. Suppose you make only $15 a week onthe average. When you stop work at age 65 you will get a checkfor $19 each month for the rest of your life. If you make $25 aweek for 10 years, you will get a little over $23 a month from theGovernment as long as you live after your 65th birthday.
If you should die before you begin to get your monthly checks,your family will get a payment in cash, amounting to 3½ cents onevery dollar of wages you have earned after 1936. If, for example,you should die at age 64, and if you had earned $25 a week for 10years before that time, your family would receive $455. On theother hand, if you have not worked enough to get the regularmonthly checks by the time you are 65, you will get