More information keeps being “discovered” in the recent release of the U.S. 1950 Census. The census reveals the significant impact of the landmark legislation signed into law in 1944- The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, also known as the G.I. Bill. The bill created sweeping new benefits for millions of veterans returning home from WWII. Those benefits included money for education, job training, low-interest home loans, and unemployment benefits.

This article from newspapers.com, a member of the Ancestry family of companies, https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=59414779 explains $20 per week for unemployment benefits, for each calendar month of active service the veteran was entitled to four weeks of allowances, limited to 52 weeks for the first two years after discharge.  Those who refused “suitable” work were denied the benefits. For those whose education was interrupted due to the war (and 25 years old or younger), a minimum of a year’s education with the government paying up to $500 in annual tuition and other fees to $50 monthly subsistence, plus $25 for dependents. Those older than 25 years had to prove interference. The schooling was limited to four years regardless of the type of school, public or private, colleges or universities, trade or business schools. The loans were repayable over 20 years. Homes and farms and small businesses the government guaranteed loans up to 5 percent of the principal, provided the loan did not exceed $2000.

To read more see the newspapers.com blog at: https://blog.newspapers.com/evidence-of-the-g-i-bill-in-the-1950-census/

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee