ABSTRACT
Hitherto, although necessarily somewhat complicated, an analytical survey of the development of the State-operated unemployment insurance system has been a relatively straightforward matter. All unemployment insurance legislation in the twenty-eight months of depression between the inauguration of the Act of 1920 and the inauguration of the Act of March, 1923, was run up because of the necessities of the moment, and not, as most of the legislation previously considered, planned for permanency. The Unemployment Insurance Act, 1921—the first important measure after the 1920 Act—was enacted on March 3, 1921, and came into operation the same day. On July 1st, the Unemployment Insurance Act of 1921 was passed, certain of its provisions being made to come into operation a day before passage. The measures taken by this Act were of conflicting purpose. An effort was made to meet the financial difficulty by again raising the scale of contributions, while restoring benefits to the level of the 1920 Act.
