The Social Security Act 1938 is a New Zealand Act of Parliament concerning unemployment insurance. After winning the 1935 election

New Zealand general election, 1935

The 1935 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 25th term. It resulted in the Labour Party's first electoral victory, with Michael Joseph Savage becoming the first Labour Prime Minister...

 the newly elected First Labour government

First Labour Government of New Zealand

The First Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1935 to 1949. It set the tone of New Zealand's economic and welfare policies until the 1980s, establishing a welfare state, a system of Keynesian economic management, and high levels of state intervention...

 immediately issued a Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 bonus to the unemployed. However, a regular unemployment benefit

Unemployment benefit

Unemployment benefits are payments made by the state or other authorized bodies to unemployed people. Benefits may be based on a compulsory para-governmental insurance system...

was not introduced until the passing of the Social Security Act 1938 in 1938; that benefit was "payable to a person 16 years of age and over who has been in New Zealand for at least 12 months and is unemployed, is capable of and willing to undertake suitable work, and has taken reasonable steps to secure employment"

This act is important in the history of social welfare, as it essentially established the first social security system in the western world.