Fluctuations in the standard of living 1917-41 Flashcards
When did the standard of living first increase for most Americans?
How did prosperity benefit most industrial workers?
What was introduced by employers?
What did many Americans purchase with their disposable income?
How did women become more independent in the domestic sphere?
Why did women bare fewer children?
-For most Americans the standard of living increased in the 1920s.
-Benefited most industrial workers becuae hours of work declined, real wages decreased by a third and there was little unemployment.
-Many employers extended recreational facilities, and introduced life insurance and pension plans.
-Many could afford to buy radios, new houses and cars, go to the cinema and watch sport.
-Women became more independent domestically because electrical appliances and processed foods gave more free time.
-Women bore fewer children due to birth control. This brought down the birth rate and gave women more control over their lives.
What did textile workers and coal miners not receive during the period of prosperity?
What led to a fall in farm prices 1920?
What were many farmers forced to live in?
Who remained the poorest social group during the period of prosperity?
-Textile workers and coal miners did not see wage rise.
-Decline in foreign demand after 1920 led to a drastic fall in farm prices.
-Many farmers lived in poverty especially in the South and Midwest.
-Blacks remained the poorest social group.
What had a major impact on standards of living between 1929-32?
By 1932 how many were unemployed?
Was there any dole? Could private charity cope?
What did millions of people do across the countryside to look for work?
What did others do on the outskirts of cities?
What issues were employed workers faced with? (average salary decline?) (Full time work?) (Farmers income?)
-The Depression.
-12 million were unemployed.
-NO. There was no dole and private charity was unable to cope with the scale of the emergency.
-Millions of people roamed the countryside, stealing rides on freight trains and looking for work.
-Others congregated on the outskirts of cities in shanty towns known as Hoovervilles.
-Those lucky enough to be in full time work saw their average salaries fall by a third.
-Many people were only employed part time.
-Farmers’ incomes plummeted as farm prices collapsed.
What did Roosevelt’s New Deal measures help stimulate?
What were more Americans able to do following this?
What did the Federal Emergency Relief Act(1933) do?
The Works Progress Administration(1935)?
The Social Security Act (1935)?
-The New Deal brought about something of an economic recovery.
-More Americans managed to find work.
-The Federal Emergency Relief Act ensured that federal money could be provided for direct relief. Instead of putting people on the dole, the gov’t tried to provide jobs, i.e. repairing roads, improving schools and maintaining playgrounds.
-The Works Progress Administration (1935) provided even more work relief. During its eight year history, it employed 8.5 million people and spent $11 billion.
-The Social Security Act (1935) created a compulsory national system of old-age pensions and a joint federal state system of unemployment insurance.
What did the Rural Electrification Administration do between 1935-45?
How did New Deal measures help the standard of living?
Was everyone better off? (Oklahoma, Arkansas?)
What did Roosevelt draw attention to in his second inaugural address? (1937)
-In 1935, Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration. At this point less than 20% of farms had electricity. By 1945, electrification of farms had risen to 90%.
-Standards of living of most Americans began to rise. They had money to spend on consumer goods, leisure and entertainment.
-NO. Many continued to live in desperate poverty.
-In the mid-1930s, drought over-planting and over-grazing combined to create a huge dust bowl in Oklahoma, Arkansas and over neighbouring states. Tens of thousands of farm families piled their belongings into ramshackle cars and headed west for California to become migrant labourers.
-In his second inaugural address 1937, Roosevelt drew attention to ‘one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished’.
