Unemployment During the Great Depression

Unemployment during the Great Depression climbed to double digit levels and remained that way for close to 10 years. The Great Depression started in 1929 and lasted until 1939.

Many people were without work during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression started in the United States and it affected countries all over the word. On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed. This day became known as "Black Tuesday." The market's all-time low wasn't reached until July of 1932, however, and 1933 was considered to be the height of the Great Depression.

As a result, trade levels plummeted, as well as personal income. This meant that revenue from taxes collected by the government also fell dramatically. Unemployment rose in cities, especially those where many workers were employed by a single industry. Construction starts came to a virtual standstill in some regions. Farmers had a difficult time as commodity prices took a nose dive. Some agricultural products were down as much as 60 percent.

In the United States, the percentage of the population that was out of work rose to 25 percent of the workforce at its highest level. This number translated to 15 million American being without work. Canadian unemployment rates were even higher, with 30 percent of the population without jobs. Other countries, such as England, also went through a difficult decade.

In Glasgow, unemployment rose to 30 percent, but in Newcastle the situation was much worse. The City's main industry, ship building, went through a deep slump, and as a result, the unemployment rate in the area rose to a whopping 70 percent!

In October of 1936, workers from Jarrow, in the north east part of England, marched to London to deliver a petition signed by more than 12,000 people asking the government of the time to take action. The 200-member group asked to see the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, but he refused to meet with them. They were successful in delivering the petition to parliament.

During the Great Depression, several banks actually closed their doors. The total number of banks dropped by about 30 percent between 1929 and 1934. The height of the banking crisis took place in 1933. One of the first actions taken by Franklin Roosevelt when he became President of the United States was to declare a bank holiday that lasted from March 6-13, 1933. The Roosevelt administration was responsible for introducing legislation to insure banks.

Roosevelt's government was also responsible for passing laws to give mortgage relief to farmers and people who owned homes. New homeowners had access to government loan guarantees. More than 20 million people were given government assistance.

Unemployment had such a devastating effect during the Great Depression because the social programs that exist today were not available. There was no unemployment insurance to provide benefits to those people who were without work. Those people who were lucky enough to be employed were afraid of losing their jobs and ending up like displaced workers who rode the rails looking for employment. The number of people on skid row went up. Homeless people set up shantytowns in various places; these were called "Hoovervillles"

Record high unemployment during the Great Depression continued until after start of the Second World War in 1939. In the United States, unemployment rates didn't drop below 10 percent until after that country entered the War in December of 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The arrival of the war created jobs for unemployed workers, both within and outside of the armed forces. Factories started making weapons, equipment, and other items for the military to use. Women entered the work force in droves. They started doing jobs that had been previously held by men, including working in factories.

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