Montana labor news., 1944-02-17
SECURITY BOARD
URGES COVERACE OF
FARM AND BUSINESS

Social security protection for farm
operators, business and professional
men and women, and others Of the So
called "self-employed" is urged today by
the Social Security Board in its eighth
annual repoft-to Congress, according to
D. B. Snyder, manager of the boards
field office in Butte. Mr.. Snyder pointed
out that facts concerning the earnings
of these Americans indicate they are as
sorely in need Of the benefits of social
security as the millions Of wage and
salary workers now covered.
The Social Security Boards report
discloses between 10 and l1.7 million
'self-employed" people throughout the
country. About half of these are farm
operators and the other half or pro-
fessional and small business people. OF
particular interest to such groups, MI
snyder said, are the following words in
the boards report:
"Self-employed persons are often
Thought Of in terms Of Well-to-do busi-
ness and professional men whose work
is independent yet the 10 to III
million persons excluded from substan-
cially all participation in social insurance
by reason Of their employment rep
resent for the most part operators OF
small farms and stores, repair services,
and the like, whose returns are small
and whose independence is largely il
iusory. The common notion that be-
ing in business for oneself guarantees a
certain job security is disproved by the
statistic on business turnover and NOR
Cality, farm foreclosures, and disposses-
sions.
LAS a group, the self-employed are
older than wage earners and more likely
to have families dependent upon them
Although a few self-employed person;
derive very large incomes from theil
business or profession, before the war the
proportions in the various income brack-
cts were about the same as for persons
receiving wages and salaries; since that
time, moreover, various wartime con-
trolls have severely affected small bust
ness.
Letters received by the board indi-
cate that many owners of little unin-
corported businesses look longingly al
the protection which wage earners hav,
under the Social Security Act and other
social insurance legislation Often they
are contributing under such laws in
behalf of their employees while they
themselves have no adequate means oi
making provision for their old age oi
assuring the support of their families
if they should die or become disabled
Unemployment insurance, which stems
from the severance Of an employer
employee relationship is less applicable
to persons who work for themselves, anC
self-employed persons also are less likely
to suffer measurable losses Of incomt
from temporary illness. In all other re-
spects, their need for social insurance
parallels that of wage earners
Many self-employed men and women
Mr.. Snyder nointed out, have closed theil
businesses, because they were needed b.
war industries or because wartime con
ditions forced them to change their wa.
of earning a living Many are building
up social insurance protection now il
jobs in private industry Unless the Law
is changed, however, they will be unabl,
to maintain that protection if they re
turn to self-employment after the war
In the meantime, they are paying socia
security contributions at the same rat
as those who expect to continue as EN-