Federal Government Subsidized Job Program Essay

During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the

The New deal of 1933 is often regarded at the height of the government’s beneficial support for the rights of the worker. The overall aim of the legislation was to decrease unemployment left in the wake of the Great Depression, as well as improve the rights of those who had already found employment in the unskilled labour force. The National Industry Recovery Act marked a significant change in the attitude of the Governments that had gone before, in that Roosevelt’s economic plans tended to support the worker over the employer, seeking to guarantee minimum wages, as well as the rights of trade unions to exercise collective bargaining techniques. The real benefits of the act were limited in that it was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, as it infringed on State’s rights. Despite this, the prospects for greater improvement in labour rights had never been better, as there was now a President who not only

To solve this he created many programs such as the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Poor men and women were barely supported by the government.(Doc A) The CWA created jobs for americans by working on roads, constructing buildings or other things. This was good for employing people and repairing the country. The CCC also did the same thing by maintaining and restoring the environment. All of these programs were in the New Deal and dropped unemployment from 12,830,000 unemployed to 7,700,000 unemployed, proving the effectiveness of these relief programs. (Doc J) The creation of such programs also changed the role of goverment by demonstrating that the government could have big decisions done by states. The numerous programs FDR implemented were all run by the bureaucracy, thus the "bureaucracy in Washington grew by leaps and bounds" according to William lloyd Garrison, Jr. (Doc

In Doc J, the graph show how up until the 1930’s before the Great Depression happened, unemployment rates were pretty low. All through the 1930’s unemployment rates skyrocketed and more people entered poverty because they weren’t able to afford common goods and their necessities due to their job losses. To help people get out of poverty, FDR created public working for people to gain money like the TVA. This was a program that consisted of common community work that needed to be done that gave men opportunities to gain money to help with their families. “An enormous amount of federal money for human relief and immense sums for public-works projects started to flow to all points of the compass…” (Doc D). The public-works projects were intended on helping people survive the struggles of poverty and eventually get out of that state of living, and FDR’s goal was to make sure that goal was

Many people criticized Roosevelt’s ideas for unemployment improvement by saying that although his intentions were sincere, he lacked trust for and ignored the entire economic and business system. As said by Senator Robert A. Taft, “Despite the New Deal Promises, there are more people who have barely enough to live on, than there have been at any time except the very bottom of the Depression.” Senator Taft further discredited Roosevelt by saying, “But from the beginning, it has been motivated apparently by a complete distrust of our entire economic and business system.” While Senator Taft made his opinion very clear, he was different because he actually provided a solution to the problem, and an amendment to Roosevelt’s original ideas. “Relief will never do more than provide a bare living, and will never be a satisfactory substitute for real work in private industry. . . . The unemployment problem can only be cured by more jobs in private industry.” However, Robert A. Taft was not the only one that shared this opinion. In Labor Law Reform and Its Enemies, Thomas Ferguson and Joel Rogers shine a light on the subject from a more modern perspective (1979). Ferguson and Rogers propose that this system set up negative consequences for the future labor-wise. “Yet, from the 1950s through the end of the century, the membership, political influence, and bargaining power of organized labor all went into a decline.” As the postwar system of collective bargaining began to decline, so did the good benefits, higher wages, and better working conditions that had been provided for

The number of Americans taking part in the welfare system today has hit 12 million, an all-time high, proving its significance in government. Americans not on welfare complain about the unfairness it causes, but have yet to propose a better plan. Changing these government assistance programs sounds easier than it really is, because while it may rid of those who take advantage of the free money, it also leaves plenty of helpless Americans to fend for themselves. In a society where Americans are compensated for idleness through government social programs, there exist many ecclesiastical institutions striving to reclaim dependent Americans by teaching self-reliance using more organized and functional welfare programs, from which the United

In an excerpt from A Negro in the CCC, Luther C. Wandall wrote about his experience with working in one of the new deal's introduced by FDR. The unemployment rates were very much effected in a positive way, by the CCC. The program allowed for more older men to retire so younger men can work. The program Luther worked at was the Civilian Conservation Corp., which was effective in the sense that the men able to work, which was ages 18-25 finally got jobs and some money. “But as a job experience, for a man who has no work, I can heartily recommend it. ” (Document

Americans, during the 1930s, clearly needed help. Too many were unemployed, struggling, starving, and/or homeless. One of the biggest legacies of the New Deal is that it combated unemployment with jobs in infrastructure. Many agencies and programs were set up to help increase America’s infrastructure and provide many needy people with jobs. One of those organizations was the Works Progress Administration. Incredibly, the WPA employed an average of 2.1 million people annually for a total of almost 8 million people. It had become largest New Deal program and required almost 11 billion dollars to fund it (Friedrich). The WPA was made with one goal in mind: to get people back to work so they can get money in their pockets to survive. The WPA built highways, airfields, public buildings, and did rural rehabilitation such as planting trees. In total, it had built around 110,000 public buildings, 600 airports, 500,000 miles of roads, and 100,000 bridges (“New Deal”). Like the WPA, the Civilian Conservation Corps, had been created to provide jobs, but it was mainly for younger Americans. This program had employed and put 3

The federal minimum wage should be raised $10.10 an hour. The reason why the federal minimum wage should be raised is because having a job extremely hard as it is, therefore the government should contribute into helping the citizens and make their lives better. Looking for a job is very difficult and once people have found a job than it should pay enough for their well living and other aspect of their lives. People are constantly complaining about how they are not getting paid enough, but are required to work at least full time to pay their utility bills, phone bills, gas bills, etc… I myself have been working hoping to find a decent car for legitimate transportation; which

Many places such as banks, movie theatres, religious activities, and small neighborhood stores failed. These palces failed not because the population had a decrease in desire to go there, but because they realized these places could no longer give them comfort and maintain stability. Workers were forced to move their families and property elsewhere, seeking jobs. The citizens looked to the government, not because they had lost hope and had given up, but because they viewed the government as their protector and provider when in dire need (Nawsaw 348). Employees expected many benefits from their employer, but was disappointed when they failed to provide it to them (Nawsaw 348). As citizens, the people believed they had every right to ask for government assistance (Nawsaw 348). President Roosevelt gave hope to the American People by staying positive. “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” This quote by President Roosevelt during his inaugural speech reached many Americans and gained him support. He managed to rally the people by promising a program to help the financial crisis called “The New Deal.” Roosevelt tried many different things to improve the nation's economic status but nothing was working. He then created the “Second New Deal.” “This created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to provide jobs for unemployed people. “From 1933 until 1941, President Roosevelt’s

In the United States, there are real imbalances in our wealth and wages. If these variance are the fundamental reason for political inconsistency, then these private imbalances should be decreased in order to move toward a political system where power is dispersed among all citizens. Changes in the distribution of riches and income will not change through the economy but should be established through different sorts of public policies on the state and federal level.

All around the world, taxpayers are paying to help support the welfare programs. "On average, each federal income taxpayer in America spends $8,776 annually to keep federal welfare programs afloat." Most of the time, however, there are the people who abuse the welfare program by using it for drugs. So the legislation has proposed the idea of drug testing welfare applicants. According to Stephanie Larson in the article “Should We Drug Test Welfare Recipients?” currently 62% of large employers in the US have drug testing in the work place. So why not on welfare applicants? Also Pennsylvania has not yet passed legislation on this growing topic. Furthermore, approximately 18.3% of Erie County residents are below the poverty line and 29.2% of the

The New Deal programs’ major aim in creating greater equality and democracy was by creating programs to recharge the economy as well as shrink the gap of wealth between economic classes in society. By installing programs such as the WPA and the CCC, these programs helped in creating jobs and decreasing unemployment throughout America. By creating jobs, this helped the economy flow smoother and as well increase the capital per family, decreasing the gaps between economic classes and increasing the “upper-middle/middle class.” When looking at other legislative acts such as the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Social Security Act, these legislative pieces helped create a sense of fairness and equality in the workforce. However, the New Deal also had inclinations to restore the status quo ante the Great Depression by disregarding improvements for racial equality

They write, “In response to the massive unemployment of the 1930’s, Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1933 introduced the first federal relief programs targeted at the poor and unemployed… he anticipated that the work relief jobs would boost consumer spending and thus increase demand for labor, which would then raise private employment and earnings.” (Neuman, Fishback, Kanton, pg 4) This quotes illustrates that programs such as these relief jobs, would not only be able to get the people back to work, but also get the economy up and running again.

United States Government Welfare began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt thought of this system as an aid for low-income families whose men were off to war, or injured while at war. The welfare system proved to be beneficial early on by giving families temporary aid, just enough to help them accommodate their family’s needs. Fast forward almost 90 years, and it has become apparent that this one once helpful system, has become flawed. Welfare itself and the ideologies it stands on, contains decent fundamentals; furthermore, this system of aid needs only to be reformed to better meet the needs of today’s society.