Would private companies provide “welfare” (unemployment?) in much the same fashion that state and Federal government now does, to the individual and his or her family?
If you mean private unemployment benefits, then it can occur.
Viception: “Around 1910, private unemployment insurance was sold to railroad workers. Seeking to sell insurance to other workers, private insurers were repeatedly banned from doing so by state governments. In 1931, the New York legislature approved private unemployment insurance growth. The bill was vetoed by Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the future president who provided government unemployment insurance.”
Why do some consumers choose State insurance over private if private insurance, or unemployment benefits rather, are ultimately better for the individual?
The question is, why did the states ban private unemployment insurance?
I think the answer to that would go far in answering why consumers “chose” state unemployment.