Controlling or Reducing Unemployment
| 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workers employed | ||||||
| WPA | 1,995 | 2,227 | 1,932 | 2,911 | 1,971 | 1,638 |
| CCC and NYA | 712 | 801 | 643 | 793 | 877 | 919 |
| Other federal work projects | 554 | 663 | 452 | 488 | 468 | 681 |
| Cases on public assistance | ||||||
| Social security programs | 602 | 1,306 | 1,852 | 2,132 | 2,308 | 2,517 |
| General relief | 2,946 | 1,484 | 1,611 | 1,647 | 1,570 | 1,206 |
| Totals | ||||||
| Total families helped | 5,886 | 5,660 | 5,474 | 6,751 | 5,860 | 5,167 |
| Unemployed workers (BLS) | 9,030 | 7,700 | 10,390 | 9,480 | 8,120 | 5,560 |
| Coverage (cases/unemployed) | 65% | 74% | 53% | 71% | 72% | 93% |
Societies try a number of different measures to get as many people as possible into work, and various societies have experienced close to full employment for extended periods, particularly during the Post-World War II economic expansion. The United Kingdom in the 1950s and 60s averaged 1.6% unemployment, while in Australia the 1945 White Paper on Full Employment in Australia established a government policy of full employment, which policy lasted until the 1970s when the government ran out of money.
However, mainstream economic discussions of full employment since the 1970s suggest that attempts to reduce the level of unemployment below the natural rate of unemployment will fail, resulting only in less output and more inflation.
Read more about this topic: Unemployment
Famous quotes containing the words controlling, reducing and/or unemployment:
“In controlling men:
If at first you don’t succeed,
Why, cry, cry, again.”
—Unknown. A Maxim Revised (l. 3–4)
“It is the American vice, the democratic disease which expresses its tyranny by reducing everything unique to the level of the herd.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“Give a scientist a problem and he will probably provide a solution; historians and sociologists, by contrast, can offer only opinions. Ask a dozen chemists the composition of an organic compound such as methane, and within a short time all twelve will have come up with the same solution of CH4. Ask, however, a dozen economists or sociologists to provide policies to reduce unemployment or the level of crime and twelve widely differing opinions are likely to be offered.”
—Derek Gjertsen, British scientist, author. Science and Philosophy: Past and Present, ch. 3, Penguin (1989)