In the United States, companies do not feel obligated to keep employees on their payroll when business is bad. Instead, the workers are "laid off" temporarily, until economic conditions improve. This means they have not been fired from the job, but they cannot work or be paid until the company can afford to call them back to work. While they are working, both employers and employees pay a small monthly tax into a government fund. When workers are laid off, they can receive money from this fund. The government also puts additional money into the fund so that there will be enough money to support workers when they are laid off. The United States unemployment insurance program began in 1935 as part of the New Deal. The main goal of the program was to help workers who had been laid off. A second goal was to keep money flowing in the economy and prevent further loss of jobs by giving money to laid off workers so they could buy food and pay rent.