What was the primary purpose for initiation of the Social Security Act?
The Social Security Act created two insurance programs to help Americans deal with the risks associated with old age and unemployment. The choice of old age and unemployment as the risks to be covered by social insurance was a natural development since the Depression had wiped out much of the lifetime savings of the aged and reduced opportunities for gainful employment. The Social Security Act was also the net result of a complex set of demographic and social changes – America was getting older, more urban and more industrial, and fewer of its people lived on the land in extended families. The traditional strategies for the provision of economic security were becoming increasingly fragile.
