Depression in USA

Question 1

Before

• Unemployment was as low as 3.2% in 1929.
• Although employment rates had fluctuated throughout the 1920s

Answer 1

After

-Unemployment in the US were 25.2% by 1933 of the labour force. Other report 17 million.

Question 2

Before

-GDP in 1920 was $73 billion, in 1929 was $104 billion.

Answer 2

After

-GDP in 1933, this was half of what it was in 1929 (around $54 billion)

Question 3

Before

-In 1929, car sales were 4,455,178. There were 27 million cars on the road. 75% purchased on credit.

Answer 3

After

-In 1933, car sales were 1,103,557. Credit was virtually unavailable.

Question 4

Before

-During the 1920s there were almost 30,000 banks. 5,000 had closed during this time.

Answer 4

After

-From 1929-1933 there were 10,000 bank closures.

Question 5

Before

-Suicide rates rose form 14% per 10,000 in 1929

Answer 5

After

-Suicide rates were 17.4% per 10,000 in 1932

Question 6

During the Depression 1929-1933(unemployment)

Answer 6

-April 1931, the number of black Americans unemployed was 4 - 6 times higher than white Americans.

Question 7

During the Depression 1929-1933(wages)

Answer 7

-Nationally, wages in 1932 were 60% less then in 1929

Question 8

During the Depression 1929-1933(families)

Answer 8

-In 1931, there were 3.8 million one parent families headed by women and only 19,280 in receipt of any aid.

Question 9

During the Depression 1929-1933(homelessness)

Answer 9

• Millions were made homeless and lived in makeshift shanty towns nicknamed Hoovervilles. Hooverville shanties were constructed of cardboard, tar paper, glass, lumber, tin and whatever other materials people could salvage.
• Some were as small as a few hundred people while others, in bigger metropolitan areas such as Washington, D.C., and New York City, boasted thousands of inhabitants. St. Louis, Missouri, was home to one of the country’s largest and longest-standing Hoovervilles.