| UC programs can trace their roots back to Europe. Private employers in
this country adopted the European programs to match the needs of their
employees. Eventually, during the depression, the federal government established
a program of public UC offices throughout the fifty states, Washington
DC, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Today's UC program covers most of the nation's workforce. The program
is a federal-state partnership with the federal partner providing stewardship
and the state partner actually operating the program. Taxes paid by employers
fund the benefits and the administrative costs of the program.
Goals of the UC program include (1) paying benefits timely when due
and (2) equitably collecting the minimum necessary taxes from employers
to operate the program.
An exceptional history of the start of UC can be found in the book Our
UC Story by Paul A. and Elizabeth Brandies Raushenbush.
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