11. Incentives for Employment

Recipients of aid should be encouraged to become self-
One of the means of encouragement is to pro-

sufficient.

vide an incentive for accepting full or part-time work. Present law is interpreted to require States to "consider all income and resources" in determining the grant of assistance. Federal requirements do not permit States to offer incentives for work, such as the retention of a part of the earnings for the individual's own use.

It is claimed that to allow incentives would lead to

a pension program and would not be fair to those re-
cipients who are unable to work. Neither of these
arguments is valid in face of an overriding desire to
help people become self-sufficient.

If the incentive

program is well administered, it will not lead to a
pension program which has no relation to needs and
resources. If the idea of providing services based
on individual need is accepted, then the need to work
will be recognized as being just as important and
necessary in some cases as the need for medical care
is, for example, in other cases. No one believes
that the medical care case is enjoying unfair advan-
tage as compared to the case which does not need
medical care, although the former is, in fact, receiv-
ing more special service than the latter.

Employment

is as much a needed service as medical care or any

other service, and the case which needs employment
should be encouraged to accept it.

There must be protections and services available to recipients who are encouraged to accept employment. There

must be adequate child care facilities for employable mothers, adolescent youth should work under protection of appropriate child-labor laws, and adults should be referred for suitable work as determined by State employment departments.

As an incentive to employment, recipients should be permitted to keep a basic sum, say ten dollars, of net earnings without deduction from the aid grant. For each two dollars of net earnings which exceeds the basic sum there should be an off-set in the grant payment of one dollar. This type of graduated incentive has proved satisfactory in the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program and should be equally effective in the public assistance program.

APPENDIX

A. List of persons who were interviewed in the course of preparing this report:

Katherine B. Oettinger, Chief

Children's Bureau

Social Security Admin.

Dept. of H.E.W.

Judge Justine Polier

175 East 64th Street

New York, N. Y.

Charles E. Schottland, Dean

Graduate School for Advanced Studies

in Social Welfare

Brandeis University

Waltham, Mass.

Sanford Solender

Executive Vice President

National Jewish Welfare Board

New York, N. Y.

Rev. William J. Villaume, Executive Director
Department of Social Welfare

National Council of Churches of Christ
New York, N. Y.

Elizabeth Wickenden

Social Welfare Consultant

New York, N. Y.

Alan W. Wilcox

General Counsel

Dept. of H.E.W.

Helen Witmer, Director

Division of Research

Children's Bureau

Dept. of H.E.W,

Dr. Ernest F. Witte, Executive Director

Council on Social Work Education

New York, N. Y.

Corinne H. Wolfe, Chief

Division of Technical Training

Bureau of Public Assistance

Dept. of H.E.W.

APPENDIX

B. Selected Bibliography

Council of State Governments. "Report on Federal-State Relations to the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government." (Hoover Commission). (S. Doc. 81, 81st Cong., 1st sess.) Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949. 297 pp.

Lindford, Alton A., et al. "An Open Letter to Secretary Ribicoff,"
The Social Service Review, XXXV, March, 1961, 66-69.

December, 1960

Project on Public Services for Families and Children. "Progress Reports Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4," New York School of Social Work. through May, 1961. No paging, mimeo.

Task Force on Health and Social Security, "Health and Social Security
for the American People A Report to President-Elect John F. Kennedy,"
Wilbur J. Cohen, Chairman. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan,
January, 1961. 11 pp., mimeo.

U.S. Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, "A Report to the President for Transmittal to the Congress,"" Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1955. 311 pp.

U.S. Congress House Committee on Governmental Operations, "FederalState-Local Relations Federal Grants-in-Aid," (H. Rept. No. 2533, 85th Cong., 2d sess.) Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1958. 94 pp.

U.S. Congress House Committee on Ways and Means, "Compilation of the Social Security Laws," Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1961. 504 PP.

U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, "Hospitalization Insurance for OASDI Beneficiaries. Report Submitted to the Committee on Ways and Means by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare," (House Committee print.) Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1959, 117 pp.

U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Public Health Service, "Final Report of the Study Group on Mission and Organization of the Public Health Service," U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960. 66 pp.

U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Social Security Ad;inistration, "Report of the Advisory Council on Public Assistance," (S. Doc. 93, 86th Cong., 2d sess.) Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960. 137 pp.