Inactive Program
The New Deal
A comprehensive program to address the effects of the Great Depression encompassing a series of direct job creation programs and other economic reforms
Download PDF (163.70 KB)The New Deal was a response by president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration to the massive unemployment, poverty, and financial instability of the great depression. Direct employment programs were a core piece of this legislative movement to stimulate the economy by increasing employment, providing wages, and improving infrastructure. The programs helped construct essential public infrastructure, provide opportunities to youth, and supported the arts throughout the entire country (1).
Everyone is employable, employment should be a right, government should provide direct employment.
Unemployment is beyond the control of people, direct employment is key for economic stabilization and security.
Over the duration of the programs the Works Progress Administration employed 8.5 million people (3); the Civilian Conservation Corps employed 3 million people (4); the National Youth Administration employed 2.6 million youth (5).
18 years and older.
There was no minimum wage at time - many projects set wage that eventually became minimum wage. Housing was often provided. The WPA paid USD 41.57 per month (6). The CCC paid USD 30 per month (7). The NYA paid USD 15-22 monthly (8).
USD 41.7 billion over its lifetime from federal funding. Spending in dollar terms peaked at USD 5.1 billion in 1936 (4.3% GDP) (9).
“The New Deal used an array of federal agencies, local governments, and private contractors to upgrade and expand the nation’s infrastructure,” (10).
Small and large scale infrastructure projects: road construction, expanded the postage system, manual labor, construction, electrification, forestry and land management, watershed management. Industry training. Historical preservation. Arts: visual art, music, dance, and crafts (11).
While not perfectly inclusive some programs were gender, race, and disability inclusive in a time where the private sector was gender and race segregated, arguably setting improved standards and hastening the movement towards a more inclusive economy over the 20th century (12).
While the New Deal benefited women, African Americans, and people with disabilities at a crucial moment, the work programs were certainly not wholly inclusive and in many cases segregation was built into the organizational structure of projects (13). The programs ultimately ended due to stabilization of the private sector and the WWII demand for prime-age enlistment, and wartime labor and production (14). The Federal budget was constrained and despite its size, the New Deal was still too small relative to the scale of need in the United States.