During the period 1914 to 1939, the United States went through many events, including WWI, the Great Depression, the growth of federal power, and technological revolution. All of these events had a great influence on the lives of American workers. However, the government policy might be the most influential factor that changed or contributed to American workers. The government policy benefited workers’ working conditions and the quality of life. During 1914 to 1939, the outcomes of strikes and labor movement changed as the government’s attitude to unions and labors varied. When policies are in favor of unions, it was easier for workers to get what they want. Instead of resisting these strikes, the government understood their life situations …show more content…
Although the economy prospered during the period of WWI and the twenties, the gap between the rich and the poor also aggravated. When the profits of employers doubled, workers’ wages slightly grew. From 1923 to 1929, “wages advanced modestly of at all in big manufacturing sectors such as steel, meatpacking, agricultural implements, and the clothing industry, particularly for the unskilled and semiskilled workers who predominated in this kind of jobs” (SR 123). Because of the inflation in the economy, the inequality in income made the unskilled and semiskilled workers a worse life. At the same time, the problem of unemployment also existed. Actually, unemployment remained high in the twenties. Although the government had policies to take income tax in order to balance the income between the rich and the poor, the actual income of the big companies were much more than what they pay for tax. The effort made by government did not help workers effectively. After the Great Depression, the New Deal programs benefited people who suffered from inequality a lot. As Franklin D. Roosevelt declared in his inaugural address, “through this program of action, we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo” and the main purpose was to “put people to work” (SR 226). The government redistributed the land for farmers and open more jobs for the unemployed people. Emergency work relief programs bring more than ten million people jobs and made the African American able to get the same wages as the white Americans. Moreover, the minor population had more opportunities to have jobs. The New Deal programs benefited the lives of American workers fundamentally, since it brought them jobs and equal
“The Great Depression upset the survival strategies workers had developed during the 1920s and forced new solutions.” (364) Many workers dependent on churches to help them survive the depression could no longer depend on them because the churches and ethnic groups could not support the sheer number of people in need. The elimination of the many Welfare capitalisms programs put in place by companies during the 1920s made laborers looking other to other places to get help. Before many people were ashamed of excepting handouts and charity because they felt embarrassed by it, but soon workers were no longer ashamed of accepting government aid, which leads to a new behavior that helped give rise to the Congress of Industrial Workers and national unionization. “Workers in Chicago and elsewhere in the nation were looking to the federal government as they had never done before.”
Because of the New Deal, more and more people every year were able to work. In Document 6, Ellen S. Woodward, the Assistant Administrator of the Works Progress Administration, describes the positive effects of the program. Not only were children fed, but the meals were also prepared by women who needed jobs. The program allowed women to work, which would otherwise be very difficult for them as they were not priority in the workforce. The New Deal and its various programs allowed unemployment to decline every year, helping the
When American elected Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1932, they were given hope by his ideas to get America out of the depression. During the Great Depression the American people faced many serious issues economically, socially, and politically. One of the biggest problems was the high unemployment rates. “Heavy industry suffered the worst unemployment…” (doc 5).
His New Deal programs provided economic relief to thousands of Americans. Two New Deal programs such as the Works Progress Administration
The percentage of Americans that were losing jobs was outrageous “25 percent of all workers and 37 percent of all nonfarm workers were completely out of work. ”(Great Depression) and that only increased. The people moved and were kicked out of their lands feed to find work elsewhere but work was scarce and was no where to be found. The african americans also had a harder time finding work as the whites were given unfair priority. Their was a substantial gap between the rich and the poor and the poor was the lowest percentage of people in the Americas.
This was in 1935 when the federal government came up with rights which allowed the various unions to team up and bargain in a collective way. The standards for Fair Labor that were implementing in 1938 gave a critical boost to the economy and the impact is still evident until today. Financial assistance was offered to the aged people and the unemployed who were not in a position to provide for their basics. The rural and agricultural set ups were boosted with fair prices for their commodities and a number of programs were put in place to increase the productivity and at the same time ensuring a good pay for these people. Later in 1937, his government embraced a fiscal policy and it was able to take up its role in mending all the weak points which had a negative impact on the economy of
*Pullman Strike * The Pullman Strike was widespread by the United States railroad workers, approximately a quarter-million worker were on strike at the peak and it impacted the expedition the railroad system across the states. The strike between the American Railway Union and George Pullman changed the course of future strikes when President Grover Cleveland ordered federal troops to break up the strikers; its influenced how the federal government and the court system would handle labor issues. The labor issues during the Pullman Strike were not limited that of rights of the workers, the role of management in the workers private life, and the roles of government resolving labor conflicts. Pullman planned communities for his workers how he determined
This meant that many of the men who did not have a job got recruited as soldiers. Many more people started getting jobs in defense jobs that paid well. In return it got rid of mostly all the unemployed. The “New Deal” by president Franklin D. Roosevelt aimed to give people jobs and promote economic recovery. This was done by using Federal Activism, these federal agencies tried to control agricultural production,stabilize wages and prices,and create vast public works programs for the unemployed.
The wealth during the 1920s left Americans unprepared for the economic depression they would face in the 1930s. The Great Depression occurred because of overproduction by farmers and factories, consumption of goods decreased, uneven distribution of wealth, and overexpansion of credit. Hoover was president when the depression first began, and he maintained the government’s laissez-faire attitude in the economy. However, after the election of FDR in 1932, his many alphabet soup programs in his first one hundred days in office addressed the nation’s need for change.
Economically, the New Deal assisted the United States by providing jobs. Many Americans were poor during the Great Depression (Document 1). These individuals lived in Hoovervilles, or shantytowns, and struggled to find fresh produce. Due to a lack of income, most of these individuals had to eat food thrown out by greengrocers. However, these circumstances were even worse for individuals who farmed (Document 6).
The unemployment rate skyrocketed up from 3% to 22% in 3 years, according to a journal of economics. This was caused by the Great Depression and the business having to lay off workers in order to not go bankrupt. This made the unemployment percentage skyrocket in a short amount of time. The New Deal had to do something to keep an income flowing into homes of families and citizens across the country. The New Deal steps up and helps bring jobs to people in need of one.
• “First” New Deal improved the economy, but didn’t quite recover. The first New Deal consisted of programs like AAA, CCC, PWA, NRA, FERA, TVA and above listed. AAA- regulated farmers to decrease the production, increase the price and avoid producing same type of crops. CCC- higher young educated men to work on relief and environment projects, over 2.5 million were provided with job. PWA- hired construction workers to work on highways, bridges, etc.
The government did many things to improve the life of workers such as setting up organizations such as the “Beauty of Labour” campaign, which persuaded employers to improve working conditions and the “Strength through Joy” organization which introduced activities for workers to enjoy. Big businesses benefited the most as their income rose by more than 100%, followed by farmers with an increase in income by 40% and finally industrial workers whose income increased by about 25%.
“The WPA taught 400,000 African American women and men to read and write” (Katz). This is a freedom from the effect of the Great Depression because now more African Americans can read and write, unlike when the Great Depression was happening. Again, this is a positive effect of the New Deal because now that these African American men and women can read and write, and they can now get a jobs. The Roosevelt Administration set up the Resettlement Administration to help poor farmers relocate to marginal lands by providing loans (“New Deal”). First, this is a positive effect of the New Deal because it helped poor farmers move to better land to grow better produce to make up for the lost from the Great Depression.
How far was the New Deal a turning point in US history? The New Deal was made in response to a set of policies by Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) to combat issues caused by the global financial meltdown of 1929, initiated by the Wall Street Crash. This decade long historic financial downturn has been identified as the Great Depression (1929-1939). The New Deal focused on what people refer to as the ‘three R’s’: