ABSTRACT
Gennany's early entry into govemmentally sponsored social insurance was due in part to Europe' s relati vely rapid shift from a rural agrarian barter economy to an urban industrial wage-based economy. This economic evolution has been attributed to the maturity of European governmental infrastructures and the need for the technology to accommodate an ever expanding population base dependent on a finite supply of agriculturalland (Schottland, 1963). However, the decline in the number of farmers who could feed and support their families directly from the land they tended and the increasing numbers of factory and warehouse employees dependent on money wages paid caused a new and widespread fonn of hardsbip. For wage eamers, being unable to work due to having been laid off or fired or having become too old or too sick to continue working resulted in immediate economic distress.
