[Izkata]

Around the Great Depression, in an effort to get control of inflation, the 1942 Stabilization Act was passed. Because employers could no longer attract new employees by offering higher pay, they started offering other things like health insurance. Since it was payed directly by the employer it wasn't taxable income and didn't fall under control of the Stabilization Act, and since then it just stuck.

[lumost]

Note: 1942 is the middle of ww2, not the great depression. The war effort dramatically reduced labor availability. (back of the napkin math says roughly 12% of the US population served in the military, disregarding the massive labor pool required to support the military industrial complex)

[drdec]

If I am not mistaken, WWII was a bigger driver for that legislation than the Great Depression.