T1 Economic Flashcards
1
Q
The Post-war Boom
A
- Conservatives gained power in 1951 at a time when the foundations for economic recovery had
been established by a period of Labour austerity between 1945-1951. - End of rationing in 1954, booming trade, extremely low levels of unemployment (1%), rising wages
led to a sense of prosperity and affluence. - Before the 1955 election, the Conservatives issued a budget which resulted in big tax cuts (£134
million which mainly helped the middle classes. - The Conservatives fought the 1959 General Election under the slogan “Life is better with the
Conservatives, don’t let Labour ruin it” and were boosted by a further £370 million in tax cuts. - This led to a sense of growing affluence and consumerism with increased spending on consumer
goods such as cars, washing machines etc. - It is perhaps unsurprising in this con
2
Q
The End of Rationing
A
- The general pattern of the 1950s would be one of continued economic improvement in would be
called ‘An Age of Affluence’. - Food rationing finally came to an end in 1954.
- The austerity [government cuts] of wartime was now over and the British people were set to enjoy
a higher standard of living than ever before.
3
Q
The Baby Boom
A
- There was a swift acceleration in the birth rate, at the end of the Second World War, leading to a
faster growing population. - Previously, many people had delayed getting married or starting a family due to either the
uncertainties of wartime and/or because men were conscripted into the army during the Second
World War. - Once the war was over returning men were now marrying or starting a family and children born
in the early 1950s would become known as the ‘Baby-Boom Generation’.
4
Q
Full Employment
A
- The global economy was booming as countries rebuilt after the Second World War. This led to a
sustained increase in overseas trade which brought high levels of earnings from exports and
investments. - This, together with the rising consumer demand at home, ensured plentiful employment.
- By 1955 it was estimated that full employment had been achieved, with only 200,000 people
(usually those in between jobs or who had just finished their education) unemployed, which was
less than 1% of the workforce.
5
Q
The Golden Age of Employment
A
- The 1950s would become called ‘The Golden Age of Employment’.
- All governments as part of the post-war consensus were committed to full employment.
Employment was stable with guaranteed ‘jobs-for-life’. - Pensions were generous and able to give a good quality of life during retirement.
- It was possible to leave school at an early age with minimal qualifications and still gain a high paid
job for life in Britain’s traditional industries (coal mines, textile mills, steel plants, shipbuilding
yards and manufacturing factories). - The welfare state provided a comfortable social safety-net (unemployment, housing and long
term sickness benefits). - In addition, trade unions were strong and were able to defend the pay and working conditions of
workers.
6
Q
Changing Employment (The Service Industry)
A
- Although, those employed in traditional occupations, such as agriculture, fishing, coal mining and
ship building fell during this period, there was a huge expansion in electrical and engineering work,
and more jobs in industries related to cars, steel and other metals. - In addition, service industries that ranged from financial and professional services to transport
and sales were growing. - By 1960 nearly five million people were employed in the service industries – this was 1 in 5 people
or 20% of the population, which was roughly the same number as in all heavy industries.
7
Q
The Consumer Boom (Rising Incomes & Living Standards)
A
- Economic growth and low unemployment brought rising wages and a spectacular rise in incomes.
People felt more affluent and there was a growth in consumerism. - In the run-up to the 1955 General Election, Rab Butler, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was able
to boost Conservative election prospects with his ‘give-away budget’ that provided the middle
classes with £134 million in tax cuts. - In the run-up to the 1959 General Election, Derick Heathcote-Amory, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, was able to boost Conservative election prospects with another ‘give-away budget’
that provided the middle classes with £370 million in tax cuts. - The improvement in world trade in the later 1950s enabled Britain to import 29% more goods
than it had in 1951 for the same number of imports.
8
Q
The Age of Affluence
A
- The general pattern of 1951-1964 was an improving picture of growing prosperity – living
standards for the majority went up considerably. - The Conservative administration were fortunate to have taken over in 1951 at a time when the
economy was recovering, both in the UK and in many countries globally: - Rationing ended by July 1954.
- Birth rate increased.
- Recovery in global trade after WW2 meant profits from exports and investments helped to create
jobs. - 1955 – 1% workforce unemployed, huge increases in electrical, engineering and service jobs.
- Pre-war slums cleared, and new towns built – e.g. Kirby, Harlow.
- Macmillan organised the building of over 300,000 houses a year as Housing Minister.
- Average male weekly wage increased from £8.30 in 1951 to £15.35 in 1961.
- The growth in real wages also increased (1951 – 1955 = 2.2%, 1955 – 1960 = 2.9%, 1960 – 1964 =
4%), meaning that although inflation was on the up, wage increases meant the sense of affluence
continued. - Between 1957 – 1959 increase of 50% in TV ownership.
- Car ownership increased by 25% between 1957 – 1959.
- 1951-1963 average working hours reduced from 48-42 hours – people were getting paid more for
doing less work.
9
Q
Consumerism
A
- The most obvious sign of the new affluence was the surge in ownership of modern consumer
goods: televisions, washing machines, refrigerators and new furniture were being bought using
hire-purchase (‘buy-now-pay-later’) schemes. - A visible symbol of the affluence was the advertising industry, especially after ITV launched in
1955 and people became accustomed to the glossy adverts during and between popular
programmes.
10
Q
New Leisure Activities
A
- Affluence also enabled new leisure activities to develop. Holiday camps reached their peak in the
1950s as people had both paid time off work and enough disposable income to be able to afford
to go on holiday. - Each week 60,000 people holidayed with Butlins. These were a chain of holiday camps founded
by Billy Butlin in 1936. - The Butlin holiday camps were built at popular seaside resorts like Skegness, Clacton and
Blackpool. - Guests stayed in chalets and camps provided catered leisure activities and entertainments for the
whole family. Butlins made get-away holidays accessible for the working class to enjoy a get-away
holiday for the first time. - Foreign holidays were now possible, but were still an expensive luxury, enjoyed only by less than
2% of the most affluent upper-class and more prosperous middle-class section of the population.
11
Q
Mass Television
A
- At the beginning of the 1950s television programmes were only broadcast during the day from
3PM to 6PM in the afternoon and then 7PM to 10:30PM in the evenings. - There was originally only one television channel provided by the BBC, funded by the TV licence,
but it would soon be joined by commercial television, funded by commercial advertising, when
ITV was launched in 1955. - The Queen’s coronation in 1953 was the first royal coronation to be televised and this proved to
be a great spur to the purchase of television sets, demonstrated by the fact that 56% of the
population watched the coronation on television. - The later 1950s saw a much greater variety of programming including US-style game shows and
the first soap opera, Coronation Street, broadcast for the first time in 1960. - Between 1957 and 1959 the number of households owning a television set rose by 32%. By 1960
there were ten million television set in use and it is estimated that 50% of the population watched
television in the evenings. - The television was now becoming more important than the radio for news, sports, education and
entertainment programmes.
12
Q
‘A Property-Owning Democracy’
A
- In 1951 Britain’s infrastructure was run down and badly needed modernising. There was a
desperate need to replace war damage and to deal with the decay of the housing stock that had
been neglected during the previous decade. - The Conservative Party had committed itself to building 300,000 new homes a year in its 1951
General Election manifesto. - Pre-war slums were cleared and new towns were built, such as Harlow in Essex.
- The new towns already built by the Labour Party under Attlee’s post-war government (1945 -
1951) in the 1940s such as Stevenage grew rapidly. - The shifts in population as the slums were cleared and new towns expanded meant that
established traditional communities were broken up. - This trend was magnified by the impact of increasing car ownership, which meant that it was no
longer necessary to live near the workplace now that daily commuting to work over long distances
was possible. - Home ownership increased with the rise of the ‘property-owning democracy’, helped by easy
access to cheap mortgages. - But the number of people living in council houses and rented accommodation still substantially
outnumbered private homeowners in 1950s Britain. - Encouraged by the government, banks and building societies advanced the necessary capital
[money] in the form of mortgages [house-buying-loans] that allowed increasing numbers of
people to buy their own homes. - This created the conditions for what the Conservative Party called a ‘property-owning
democracy’. - A ‘property-owning democracy’ was a society in which as many people as possible are encouraged
to become home owners, based on the principle that the ownership of property is an essential
component of democracy.
13
Q
Other successful Conservative policies
A
- Number of extensions to the Welfare State such as an increase in benefit payments.
- Also, there was the passage of the Mental Health Act, which put mental illness at the same level
as physical illness. - Between 1951 – 1964 the government oversaw the building of 6000 new schools and 11 new
universities.
14
Q
‘Never Had It So Good’
A
Harold Macmillan, addressing a large audience of Conservative supporters at Bedford football ground,
July 1957, would famously declare that the British people ‘never had it so good’.
15
Q
Falling Behind Economic Competitors
A
- Britain’s economic growth was much less impressive when compared to other developed
economies. - Britain was slipping behind her economic competitors and was well on the way to becoming the
‘sick man of Europe’. Britain was falling behind in productivity per person. - Britain’s share of world trade fell between 1951 and 1964 from 25% to 15%.
- Between 1951 and 1964 Britain’s economy grew 40%, but France’s economy grew 50%, West
Germany’s economy grew 250%, and Japan’s economy grew 400%. - Britain’s exports rose between 1951 and 1964 by 29%, but France’s rose by 86%, Germany by
247% and Japan by 378%.
