Impact on People

• Unemployment and its effects


  • 3.2% of the potential workforce were unemployed, rose to 24.9% by 1933. (In steelmaking/manufacturing it reached as high as 50%)
  • 1/3 had to work part time = lower income.
• Impact on the household

  Electricity cut off

  Fuel and food expenses reduced

  In 1932, 20,000 children did not have enough food to live on

  One Magazine claimed that a sixth of the nation would die over winter in these conditions.
• Americans had to rely on relief/help from government/state organisations for poor.

  National consequences in 1930s such as:

  • average couple married 2 years later
  • birth rate fell below replacement rate
  • suicide rates increased by 14%
• 10,000 people applied for jobs in the soviet union (links to Topic 1, workers coming internationally to help with Magnitogorsk and the Five-year plans)
• Effects on disadvantaged groups


  Some people suffered more than others in the Great Depression:

  • Black people: More likely to lose their jobs + faced racist threats

  (40,000 people joined black shirts, a campaign against black people in work)

  • Immigrants: Lost jobs to whites or left/were deported

  (500,000 Mexicans returned to Mexico)

  • Women: Household help no longer affordable = 25% of women lost their job.

  However, this meant women could find work outside the home.

  • Elderly: Many Americans could not afford to retire (only 11 states had pension schemes + 15% had private plan)
• Homelessness

  1931: NYC government tried to find accommodation for 20,000 children whos' families couldn't provide/care for them.

  e.g. California had 100,000 homeless looking for work.

  • state + government couldn't provide necessary relief
  • migrants/hobos kept on moving to find any temporary relief they could

  1 million men, women + family groups travelled by foot/car/railroad in search of accommodation or work which put huge strain on popular destinations.
• Hoovervilles

  Shanty town: accommodation from scrap materials.

  • Populations here grew into the hundreds and the biggest ones even had running water.

  (In NYC, Washington DC, St Louis)

  • Thousands found living without basic necessities.
  • A man in Seattle named Jesse Jackson declared himself mayor and took 5 acres of land - at first the government disagreed, then accepted it.
  • Hoovervilles officially acknowledged in 1932. It was a difficult life at the Hoovervilles, people did not have jobs, and men lived there without company of women + kids.
  • Relied only on small donations from charity
• The Bonus Marchers

  Congress passed law in 1924 giving WW1 veterans a bonus of up to $625 each year, to make up for wages lost while out fighting for their country.

  Catch/ most had to wait until 1945 to receive this bonus, all decided during period of the boom

  • 20,000 people known as 'bonus marchers' marched to Washington in 1932
  • Two veterans killed because of Hoover's order to have them removed from camp
  • 100 injured by US army (also sent by Hoover) - Destroyed Hoover's reputation