3) Economic and social problems (1919-1924)

Cards (11)

unemployment by 1921 
1.8% compared to 17% in Great Britain
debt in Weimar Republic
1.44 billion marks
price increase between 1918 and 1920 
increase by 8 times, 14 times higher than in 1913
1919 limitation to work hours 
max 8 hours
Aid for war widows and orphans
1919
1922 national youth welfare act 
Required all local authorities to provide child protection and education
dollar to marks ratio
July 1914 = 1 US dollar : 4.2 marks
Nov 1923 = 1 US dollar : 4.2 trillion marks
unemployment at the end of 1923 
only 29.3% of the workforce was fully employed
price of 1 kilo of rye bread
Jan 1923 - 163 marks
October - 9 million marks
November - 233 billion marks
Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr (1923) 
F and B sent 60,000 men - grew to 100,000 in January
Took control of mines, factories, steelworks and railways
passive resistance - no one in the area cooperated and German workers were promised that their wages would continue if they went on strike
Impact of the occupation of the Ruhr
- around 150,000 Germans were expelled from the area
- in may 1923, the output in the Ruhr had fallen to around a fifth of its pre-occupation output
-the cost amounted to twice the annual reparations payments