(2a) The Spread of the Depression 1929-1932

Question 1

The Growth of Unemployment

Answer 1

1929:

• As low as 3.2%
• Employment rates had fluctuated during the 1920s
• 25.2% by 1933 = 12 million.
• A different report says 17 million people
• Uneven distribution of employment. - 80% unemployed in Toledo vs 50% in Cleveland, Ohio.

Question 2

Collapse of GDP

Answer 2

• 1920 - $73 billion
• 1929 - $103.8 billion
• 1933 - Roughly half of the 1929 figure ($56.2 billion)

Question 3

Problems with Credit and Banking

Answer 3

• 1920-1929: 5,000 bank closures out of 30,000 banks
• 1929-1933: 10,000 bank closures
• USA became a land of transactions - mistrust in banks and economy grew.

Question 4

Effects on individual industries

Answer 4

• Remained innovation and pockets of prosperity in some industries.
• Old industries suffered whilst modern industries grew.
• Agricultural south and industrial north suffered - had been under economic pressure before the depression

Question 5

Effects on individual industries:

Old Industries suffered

Answer 5

• Construction: Value = $6.6 billion in 1929
  $1.3 billion in 1932
• Coal industry: Workforce fell by 300,000 (1929 - 1932)
• Car sales fell:
  1929: 4,455,178 1929 (4.45 million)
  1933: 1,103,557 1933 (1.1 million)

Question 6

Effects on individual industries:

Modern Industries

Answer 6

• Air Conditioning introduced
• Aviation benefitted - first cross continent flights
  
  • Passenger numbers doubled 1932-1938

Question 7

The National wage bill

Answer 7

Wages were 62% lower in 1933 than they were in 1929.

Question 8

Fall in GNP

Answer 8

• $203.6 billion in 1929
• $144.2 billion in 1932
• Growth rate went into decline - 6.7% in 1929 to -14.7% in 1932.
  ^This lack of productivity and growth is the cause of the collapse in GNP.

Question 9

There was an ______ ____________ of unemployment across _________ and regions of USA.
_____ and ethnic minorities were hit hardest.

Answer 9

There was an uneven distribution of unemployment across industries and regions of USA.
Women and ethnic minorities were hit hardest.

Question 10

Many small _____ went bankrupt, losing their __________’ _______ in the process.
By 19__, the USA was a land of ____________ due to a ________ in the banking system and the economy - ______ was tight so no-one took the ____.

Answer 10

Many small banks went bankrupt, losing their customers’ savings in the process.
By 1933, the USA was a land of transactions due to a mistrust in the banking system and the economy - credit was tight so no-one took the risk.

Question 11

Bank ________ between 19__ and 19__ was ______ the amount of closures in the ________ of the 19__s.

Answer 11

Bank closures between 1929 and 1932 was double the amount of closures in the entirety of the 1920s.