Frank Stricker
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780252043154
- eISBN:
- 9780252052033
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043154.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
Between 1921 and 1929, there were no depressions, but prosperity was accompanied by substantial unemployment, especially for farm laborers and blue-collar workers. Unions were weak and business ...
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Between 1921 and 1929, there were no depressions, but prosperity was accompanied by substantial unemployment, especially for farm laborers and blue-collar workers. Unions were weak and business influence strong. Income inequalities widened. The late ’20s saw an explosive combination: unregulated stock markets and mass underconsumption. The ’20s boom led to the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover’s neo-laissez-faire response failed, but it cleared the decks. President Franklin Roosevelt and other New Dealers acted to expand government functions to aid those in distress and to jump-start economic growth. The CCC, the CWA, the WPA, and the PWA are each evaluated for wage levels, job creation, and treatment of women and African Americans. Economic recovery added millions of jobs, but unemployment stayed high until World War II.Less
Between 1921 and 1929, there were no depressions, but prosperity was accompanied by substantial unemployment, especially for farm laborers and blue-collar workers. Unions were weak and business influence strong. Income inequalities widened. The late ’20s saw an explosive combination: unregulated stock markets and mass underconsumption. The ’20s boom led to the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover’s neo-laissez-faire response failed, but it cleared the decks. President Franklin Roosevelt and other New Dealers acted to expand government functions to aid those in distress and to jump-start economic growth. The CCC, the CWA, the WPA, and the PWA are each evaluated for wage levels, job creation, and treatment of women and African Americans. Economic recovery added millions of jobs, but unemployment stayed high until World War II.
