Putting People Back to Work
By: Nathan Schmitz
Franklin Roosevelt and an Idea
With American unemployment on the rise and no jobs to fill. Franklin Roosevelt decide to give the economy a kick start. He believed that to get the economy going you had to put some back in. The Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) was put in place it was the first major relief to the unemployed and gave state and local governments 3 billion dollars.
Work Relief Programs
Soon attention was shifted from hand outs to job relief and putting people to work. The first of this new approach was the Civilians Conversations Corps (CCC). it put unemployed unmarried men to work it gave them a job, food, a place to stay, and an income.
The Civil Workers administration soon followed it created jobs to make public services and create many jobs for Americans in this time of need. It employed around 2.5 million people earning around $15 a week.
The biggest of all the work relief programs was the Work Progress Administration which employed over 9 million Americans in its time. It employed people of all skill levels and gave them jobs best suited to their talents.
Although some believed that these relief funds were a waste of money. They kept the American economy moving.