Unemployment In Pine Ridge During The Great Depression

Unemployment was one of the biggest impacts on the depression. Millions of people lost jobs. Forty percent of factory workers, and sixty-seven percent of construction workers were unemployed in Ohio alone (Stock Market Crash of 1929). In the country, unemployment went up twenty-five percent, wages went down forty-two percent, economic growth went down fifty percent, and world trade went down sixty-five percent. In the cities, factories and businesses got rid of a large number of employees or closed down altogether. Cities were not the only ones who felt the impact of the depression. Farmers faced low prices for their products, and many people still could not afford the farmer’s products, resulting in farm foreclosures across the United States.

Poverty has now become “As American As Apple Pie”, a situation we choose to ignore, and along with it the millions of families who suffer from it. Many have this tendency to believe that they are safe from falling into poverty; unaware of the multiple situations that can cause one to fall into poverty. It makes one wonder what’s keeping them from tipping over, eventually leading to the question, what makes poverty so common, and why is it still around?

Imagine a drastic occurring in what seems like an instant. This is exactly what happened to many people during the time of the great depression. This time period, which lasted for over ten years, meant no job, possibly no home, and not a lot of food. While the Great Depression didn’t take long to become a worldwide problem, it all started in the United States (“Great Depression”). People had been investing their money into stocks, but in September of 1929, the prices started droping. By October of that same year, the marke”crashed,” and and these stock were worth absolutely nothing (“Great Depression”). Undoubtedly, the econemy had reached its lowest point(“Great Depression”). Despite the fact that the decade of the thirties was marked by the

Farmers needed to produce more and more crops in order to make ends meet (“We Are California” 2). Many sought banks loans to be able to pay for equipment and supplies that they needed that would have been able to help them cultivate more land and plant multiple crops in there land. Yet, when the drought hit, the farmers were already falling far behind on repaying their bank debts. But not only was the drought making it harder for the farmers, but as well as the U.S government also played a part in making it harder for those tenant farmers and farm workers, especially in finding

Poverty effected many individual families around the world for many years, and it wasn’t until 1935, The Social Security Act was passed, therefore assisting many families in need. The effects of poverty is an extraordinarily obscure social experience, and the finding those causes is very similar. As a result, sociologists considered other theories of poverty, such as the journey of the middle class, employers, from the cities into the suburbs. The government has taken many steps over the years to put an end to or decrease welfare assistance. Although, the welfare system is extremely important to millions of people, it has been an underlying problem for many others causing idleness and laziness. There are many pros and cons to

The current research findings within Texas gives rise to the situation in Nacogdoches County. Although no two counties are alike, research on rural Texas counties reveal common barriers. Many of the same issues are expressed throughout the region. Joliffe (2004) showed that over 40 percent of the U.S. nonmetro population had the greatest prevalence of both poverty and persistent poverty. This is the equivalent to one in six persons in the region living in poverty, and more than one in four living in persistent poverty counties (Joliffe, 2004). This gives impoverished rural families very little income for adequate

Living in America, citizens should be well aware of the poverty issues that strike the country everyday. With the poverty rates increasing, Americans are pleading the government for aid in providing food and shelter for their families. In “Poverty in America: Why Can’t We End It,” author Peter Edelman, asserts that poverty can be fixed if the people have interest to do so. He includes statistics and reasons that explain the rise of poverty in America and possible solutions to the problem of poverty. Edelman stated that although the numbers of poverty have declined, there are still 15 million more people who are poor today. The government has also taken action to decrease the numbers of citizens in need of aid and keep 40 million people out of poverty by giving: Social Security, food stamps, cash assistance and programs. The author explains that even though there are still individuals who need aid, the numbers would have been double without government assistance. Edelman

Sharecroppers and farm workers always lived in the midst of strife; they were never able to make a decent living. The boll weevil, soil erosion, and foreign competition had destroyed the cotton crop in the early Twenties. Life was difficult. No profits were being made, and

The United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Despite the high levels of affluence there are still millions of Americans that do not share this wealth. The deprivation of the basic necessities affects the quality of people’s lives. Unemployment comes in several forms and affects millions of people at any given time. People often find themselves out of a job because of the economy. Sometimes people have a job but the job that they are working is no longer thriving like they once was before.

After researching The Great Depression, I came to find that one of the causes was that people purchased less products because money was becoming scarce. So with people not purchasing the merchandise that is on the market they held back on making the product, which lead to them firing people because the lack of demand. There became a large amount of unemployment in America reaching about 25% unemployment at the depths of the depression to about 11% by the late 1930s. America was still depressed until World War 2 came around.

Due to economic necessity, women’s employment increased during the Great Depression, in part because the jobs from which they have been excluded, such as those in heavy industry, were most often in the areas of the economy hardest hit by the collapse. At the time, many people saw the differential between female and male employment as a major cause of male unemployment. “Simply fire all the women, who shouldn’t be working anyway, and hire the [unemployed] men,” Norman Cousins wrote in 1939, summarizing this simplistic argument. “Presto! No unemployment. No relief rolls. No depression” (Kessler-Harris 256). That lack of open-mindedness ignores the basic reality that it did not matter how desperate men were for a job, most of them would never

The Great Depression was a long and severe recession in the economy and/or the market. Life during the Great Depression was a depression for many people. The World War II helped the Great Depression end and help people live at least live better lives. World War II lasted from September 1, 1939-September 2, 1945. It had lasted six years!

The “other side” in context of the Great Depression, refers to the positives that manifested during that time. Ultimately, members of the upper class benefited the most during this time. Throughout the Great Depression, the upper class found themselves living an ultimately better lifestyle. They were still just as rich as before the depression hit, and continued to live their luxurious lives. The Great Depression resulted in the cost of living, decreasing, which in turn, allowed the wealthy to live even better and maintain or even increase their own wealth. They were also able to buy businesses and properties, and essentially make more money off the lower classes. However, there were positives for the average person as well. People learned

In the U.S., the primary source of income comes from jobs. However, people are unable to find jobs because businesses are outsourcing unskilled labor to developing countries since workers there are willing to be paid less than the average American worker. This creates problems for people who are trying to look for jobs because many lack the skills to function in a job that requires skill and will remain jobless until they find unskilled labor jobs. Since the Recession, working class families who had lost their jobs are struggling to survive due to the little job availability (Heritage Foundation, 2011). Because the majority of working class families are suffering from prolonged

The pinpoint cause of poverty is challenging to find. People who live well off and are above the poverty line may be quick to assume that laziness, addiction, and the typical stereotypes are the causes of poverty. Barbara Ehrenreich, a well known writer on social issues, brings attention to the stereotypical ideology at her time, that “poverty was caused, not by low wages or a lack of jobs, but by bad attitudes and faulty lifestyles” (17). Ehrenreich is emphasizing the fact that statements like the one listed, often influence readers to paint inaccurate mental pictures of poverty that continue to shine light on the ideology of stereotypes being the pinpoint cause to poverty. However, there are many other causes that are often overshadowed, leaving some individuals to believe that poverty was wrongfully placed upon them. Examples would include: high rates of unemployment, low paying jobs, race, and health complications. Which are all out of one’s ability to control. There is no control over a lack of jobs and high rates of unemployment, nor the amount of inadequate wages the working poor receive. Greg Kaufmann, an advisor for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Half in Ten campaign, complicates matters further when he writes, “Jobs in the U.S. [were] paying less than $34,000 a year: 50 percent. Jobs in the U.S. [were] paying below the poverty line for a family of four, less than $23,000 annually: 25 percent” (33). Acknowledging Kaufmann’s fact, the amount received for a family of four is fairly close to the yearly salary of a high school graduate, which means, receiving that kind of pay for one man may seem challenging, now imagine caring for the needs of four individuals. To make matters worse, certain families receive that amount of money and carry the burden of paying for