A nation on the dole.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: Data - Brief article

More than half of all Americans-53 percent--now depend on government for their income. In 1950 the figure was just 28 percent. While that number shot upward, the proportion of workers in the private sector fell. The economist Gary Shilling totaled up federal, state, and local government workers, plus private-sector workers who owe their jobs to government, plus recipients of Social Security, other transfer payments, and benefits such as food stamps. He also tacked on the dependents of these direct beneficiaries. After adjusting his figures to avoid double counting, Shilling found that for each person earning his pay in the...