are counted only once in table 1. It Table I.-Estimated number of children under age 18 with father dead and of Is relatively uncommon for men to wido ws under age 65 receiving money income from specified sources, receive two benefits because a second- [In millions] ary beneflt based on a woman’s earn- ings would rarely exceed an old-age Widows under age 65 s Children -- benefit based on a man’s earnings.” source of income under are 18 with With 1 or Practically all the 2.7 million mar- f&t&r dead Total more children Other ried women living with their hus- under ere 18 j _- ~__ bands had some income from em- -1. Total in population a__...______-.__- .____ 2. 1 3.6 6.7 ’ 2.8 ployment or one of the public income -___ -1. maintenance programs-either in Employment 4~~~~.~~-~-~~----~-~~~~---~-----~~~-~~~~ .2 1.9 .4 i 1.6 Social insurance and related programs 6.______1.2 their own right or through their hus- Oldage and survivors insurance.. ______:i :i Veterans’ compensation and pension programs. .___ 1:; I .5 .l i! “I~ bands. Of the 4 million aged widows, Railroad and government employees’ retirement I / however, scarcely 8 percent had in- prowms _.___-______.__.--.------______(9 Aid to dependent children ______.______._.--.-.--_ :a ’ :: ./ 0.l come from employment, and at most - about a third had benefits under old- 1 Continental United Ststes. Source: Number of children and of widows in the age and survivors insurance or a re- 1 Excludes widows who have remarried. population and number with employment and with *Includes persons with no income and income children under age 16estimated from ubllshed and lated program. Many widows were sup- solely from sourcesother than those specified. Some unpublished data of the Bureau o P the Census. ported in whole or in part by old-age persons received income from more than one of the Number of children under age 18 with father dead specified sources; some with income from sources based on estimate for prepared by the assistance, but even more of them specified also received income from other sources. Division of the Actuary, Social Security Adminis- 4 Includes only persons working for psy or profit tration. Number of persons receiving payments had no income from the sources un- and not those supported by the earnings of a relative. under social insurance and related programs and der consideration. 6 Personswith income from more then one program from aid to dependent children reported by admlnis- we counted only once. tnitive agencies (partly estimated). 0 Fewer that] 50.006. 8 See Ann?lal Statistkal Supplement, 1953, tables 41-43 (Social Security Bulle- tin, ). for information on the . As shown in chart cisely because available information dual entitlements at the end of 1953. 1, there was considerable overlap concerning recipients of aid to de- between the programs, with about 7 pendent children on the reasons for percent of all the paternal orphans lack of support relates to the “most Economic Status of receiving benefits under both. Other recent” father rather than the na- social insurance programs were of tural father.2 Widows and Paternal slight importance as a source of in- According to a study conducted by Orphans, June 1954 * come for these children. the Bureau of the Census for the Although the 2.1 million paternal More than half the children receiv- Social Security Administration in orphans’ in the United States com- ing old-age and survivors insurance : about three-fifths of prise less than 4 percent of the Na- benefits in lived with the paternal orphans live in the tion’s children under age 18, they a mother who also received benefits. household of a relative who is em- are of special interest from a social Some lived with a widowed mother ployed. With respect to the employ- and economic point of view because who was not entitled because of em- ment of the orphans themselves, the of problems of support. ployment or remarriage. A child’s eli- 1949 study showed about 5 percent Old-age and survivors insurance, gibility for benefits is not affected by with some earnings. It appears prob- the programs administered by the the mother’s employment or her re- able, however, that in June 1954 the Veterans Administration, and related marriage unless he is adopted by a number of paternal orphans under programs provided income in June stepfather before the death of his age 18 with some income from their 1954 for about 60 percent of the chil- natural father. own employment was roughly 200,000, dren under age 18 with father dead. The rapid increase during the past - While the proportion of paternal or- 5 years in t.he number of survivor 2 In only about 6 percent phans receiving payments under the children under age 18 receiving old- of all children receiving aid to dependent veterans’ pension and compensation age and survivors insurance beneilts children were old-age and survivors in- programs has remained constant at has resulted in a continuous decline surance beneficiaries. The proportion re- ceiving both old-age and survivors in- about 15 percent since 1950, the pro- in the importance of aid to dependent surance beneflts and aid to dependent portion receiving old-age and sur- children as an income source for pa- children payments was much larger vivors insurance benefits has increased ternal orphans. The proportion re- among paternal orphans, who comprised from less than one-third to about ceiving such aid was down to 11 per- only 15-16 percent of all children in the one-half of all paternal orphans in cent in June 1954. A considerable continental United States receiving aid to dependent children. See Ruth White, number of the paterna1 orphans re- “Concurrent Receipt of Public Assistance *Prepared by Lenore A. Epstein, Dlvlsion ceiving aid to dependent children and Old-Age and Survivors Insurance.” of Research and Statistics, Of&e of the were beneficiaries under the old-age Social Security Bulletin, , Commissioner. and survivors insurance program pages 12-15. * The term paternal orphan, as used whose benefits needed supplementa- *See Jacob Fisher, “Orphans in the here, relates to all children with father United States,” Social Security Bulletin, dead. Including those who have lost both tion. This overlap, which is not shown , for a summary of data from parents. on chart 1, is difficult to measure pre- this survey.

18 Social Security Chart I.-Sources of income of widows and paternal orphans in the United States, June 1954 PERCENT 0 20 40 60 60 100 I I I I I I I 1 I VETERANS

CHILDREN UNDER AGE 18 WITH FATHER DEAD

WIDOWS WITH CHILDREN UNDER AGE I8

-0ASIh %ETERANS# *RAILROAD AND GOVT. EMPL. RETIREMENT PROGRAMS PROGRAMS or about 10 percent of all children ceiving beneflts under old-age and widows who are in the labor force has under age 18 with father dead, in- survivors insurance, the veterans’ pro- remained more or less constant at cluding some of those living with a grams, or related programs. about 50 percent during the past 6 mother or other re!ative who was Of the 700,000 widows under age years, while the proportion receiving employed.’ 65 with one or more children under mother’s benefits under old-age and Thus, many of the children shown age 18, half had income from em- survivors insurance has gone up in table 1 as having no income from ployment in June 1954 and about steadily from 22 percent in June 1950 social insurance and related pro- half received benefits under old-age to 36 percent in June 1954. Undoubt- grams or from aid to dependent chil- and survivors insurance or the veter- edly, widows who could obtain em- dren had some income from employ- ans’ or related programs (chart 1). ployment and could leave their chil- ment directly or indirectly, or both. As in the case of the paternal or- dren believed that the difference Some of these children undoubtedly phans, it is estimated that about 15 between the income they could earn received payments under the settle- Percent of those receiving mother’s and the benefit amount more than ment options of life insurance con- benefits under old-age and survivors offset the advantages of staying at tracts or income from the deceased insurance were also receiving beneflts home. It remains to be seen whether parent’s property. Others were sup- from the Veterans Administration. some will leave the labor market, at ported by relatives. Still others were An estimated 20 percent of the social least temporarily, as a result of the in tax-supported institutions, but insurance beneficiaries were among rise in benefit amounts under the their number is not known. In 1950 those with some income from em- 1954 amendments. there were 93,000 children under age ployment. About 5 percent of them Among widows under age 65 with- 18 in homes for neglected and de- were receiving aid to dependent chil- out children under age 18, employ- pendent children (18,000 of them in dren (not shown on the chart). Other ment is the most common and im- public homes), and probably most of widowed mothers had children receiv- portant source of income. Such wid- these children were paternal orphans. ing old-age and survivors insurance ows are not eligible for old-age and An unknown proportion of the 112,- beneflts but were not themselves eli- survivors insurance benefits, aid to 000 children under age 18 in other gible because their earnings exceeded dependent children, or-unless they types of institutions were also pa- the maximum allowable without ben- are widows of veterans whose deaths ternal orphans. It seems unlikely that efit suspension. About 1 in 10 widowed were service-connected-benefits un- more than 6-8 percent of all paternal mothers with children received pub- der the veterans’ programs. In June orphans were in institutions in June lic assistance through aid to depend- 1954 about 400,000 widows, or almost 1954, and presumably a considerable ent children. Few of the latter were 1 in 7, received compensation from number of these children were re- employed. the Veterans Administration. About The labor-force participation rate 1.6 million had some income from ‘Estimates of employment rates for employment. children (based on Bureau of the Census is well over twice as high for widows data on the labor force for June 1954). with one or more children under age It may be assumed that a number applied under varying assumptions to the 18 as for married women with hus- of widows receive periodic payments estimated number of orphans of working age, yield estimates of the number wlth band present and one or more chil- under Private insurance and annuity earnlngs that vary from a low of 110,000 dren under age 18. It is notable, there- contracts-whether they have some to a high of 280,000. fore, that the proportion of such income from employment and/or so-

Bulletin, 19 cial insurance or a related program about four-fifths of them children k&ion in the Southern agricultural or whether they have no income from under age 18, and the others aged 65 States and the sparsely populated any of the sources listed. Some prob- and over. In the 12 States with the Mountain States, and they were re- ably have income from investments. lowest per capita incomes in 1953 latively least numerous (28-30 per- Some of the widows without children there were 83 children and aged per- cent) in the District of Columbia and under age 18 have to rely on general sons to every 100 adults of working in the densely populated, industrial assistance for support, and some on age, or 25 percent more than in the States of New York, New Jersey, the support of their adult children, 12 highest income States, where the Massachusetts, and Connecticut as do older widows. ratio was 66 to 100.’ (table 1). - Proportion of children and aged in The proportion of the population the population.-Children under age aged 65 and over was largest (10-11 Ageyof the Population and 18 were most numerous (41-43 per- percent) in New England and the Per Capita Income, by cent) in relation to the total popu- West North Central States, and State, 1953 * smallest (5-6 percent) in those States For every 100 persons aged 18-64 1 Population estimates relate to July 1. where the child population was rela- years in the continental United 1953. They exclude persons in the Armed tiveIy large. As shown in chart 1, States in 1953, there were 72 persons Forces. since State population estimates in the majority of the Northern and by age group are available only for the Middle Western States, the ratio of dependent or potentially dependent- civilian population. Estimates of income payments by State are for the calendar the population aged 65 and over to * Prepared In the Division of Research year 1953 (Survey of Current Business. persons aged 18-64 exceeded the and Statistics, Of&e of the Commlssioner. August 1954). United States average.

Chart I.-Ratio sf yozrng and old to persons aged 18-64, by State, 1953 1

30 and more A I5 and more U.S. average 72 U.S. average 14.7

1 Nan&w of persons under age 18 snd~number of persons aged 85 and ever per 100persons in the population sged 18-64.

20 Sockal Security