Applicants for Work Relief : A Study of Massachusetts Families Under the FERA and WPA

Believing that there has been too much emotionalism in connection with the relief problem, Elizabeth Gilboy has here presented a scientific and impartial statement of the facts concerning the section of the population which went on work relief and an appraisal of the work relief system. She describes the economic characteristics of these citizens, such as income, expenditure, occupation, debts, property-holdings, and the like, both before and after their being put on the relief rolls. Most of the data were collected in Massachusetts, but further information was secured wherever possible all over the country. The book opens with a brief summary of the development of work relief in Massachusetts from the early days of the depression to the establishment of the WPA. This is followed by an examination of the administration of work relief, the methods of admitting and dismissing cases, the wage system, efficiency both of the workers and of the administration itself, and the aims of work relief. These questions have been examined particularly in connection with the problem of re-employment, with which one section of the book is concerned. The weakness and the strength of the WPA are shrewdly appraised, and several suggestions are offered for making the whole system more efficient. PREFACE CONTENTS STATISTICAL TABLES IN THE TEXT INTRODUCTION PART I. THE PROBLEM OF WORK RELIEF CHAPTER I. THE ADMINISTRATIVE BACKGROUND IN MASSACHUSETTS CHAPTER II. THE MASSACHUSETTS ERA CHAPTER III. A GENERAL PICTURE OF THE WORK RELIEF APPLICANT CHAPTER IV. LOCAL DIFFERENCES IN WORK RELIEF PART II. A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF WORK RELIEF APPLICANTS CHAPTER V. THEIR SOURCES OF INCOME CHAPTER VI. THEIR PROPERTY OWNERSHIP AND DEBTS CHAPTER VII. THE EXPENDITURE OF THEIR INCOME PART III. THE CHANCES OF RE-EMPLOYMENT CHAPTER VIII. CANCELLED WORK RELIEF CASES CHAPTER IX. IS THERE A PERMANENT RELIEF PROBLEM? PART IV. COMPARISONS CHAPTER X. WORK RELIEF IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY CHAPTER XI. WORK RELIEF APPLICANTS AND THE EMPLOYED PART V. CONCLUSION CHAPTER XII. AN EVALUATION OF WORK RELIEF APPENDIX A. STATISTICAL METHOD APPENDIX B. STATISTICAL TABLES INDEX