The UnemployedThe Unemployed, a classic study of the effect of unemployment and of the ways of relieving it upon actual, typical families of the 1930s and 1940s, is a vivid, startling picture of the demoralizing influence and consequences of America�s relief policies during the Depression years. The study comprises an incisive interpretation of the problem and a series of absorbing human interest stories of representative families on relief�cases selected from experiences of relief, including the records of families from various religious groups in an exhaustive study conducted in New York City. |
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The Unemployed: I. Interpretation. II. Case Studies Eli Ginzberg,Ethel L. Ginsburg Snippet view - 1943 |
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able Accepted for Relief apply for Relief asked attitude Barton Becker believes Berger better birth control born Bronx brother budget Caldwell carfare Catholic cent child church Clancy Closed to Private clothing Corey difficulty earned employed employer fact father feels felt friends Gunther high school Home Relief 60 Home Relief record husband income investigator Ireland Irish Catholics Jewish Jews Katz knows labor living look Mahoney manage marriage married ment months mother never O'Leary parents permanent wave person plumber Poland political poor Private Employment private industry Progress Administration Protestant realized received relatives Relief and WPA religion rent Roosevelt Russia savings says sister skilled social synagogue talked things thinks tion told trade unable unem unemployed Unemployment Insurance union United wages Wallach week weekly wife woman women worker worries Yiddish York City
Popular passages
Page 138 - there was only one thing to do and that was to proceed in the discussion of the treaty by way of amendment and reservation.
Page 3 - They have had no doubt as to the outcome of the war — but when they think of peace they are uneasy. These soldiers recall that the country fumbled badly in coming to grips with that scourge of peace — unemployment.' They remember that pregnant women were dispossessed from their homes; that farmers were thrown off their land; that husky men became soft from idleness. They remember all this and more, and they wonder what will happen when they have won the victory on the battlefield. They wonder...
Page 170 - ... available for which a man is qualified, he will take it. If no job is available, the relief system is so managed as to avoid gestapo technique whereby the unemployed are hounded and deprecated to a point of severe mental ill health. Again quoting Dr. Ginzberg's survey of an unemployed group — It is a tragic paradox that these unemployed men found their salvation in America's entrance into World War II.; that their return to work was made possible only because American industry was called upon...
Page 149 - Ky, this fundamental problem is evidenced by this observation : ... If one assumes that men work only because they must, the authorities had good reason to fear any narrowing of the differentials between Relief allowances and wages. But do men prefer idleness to work? Some might, but not many. Moreover, there are serious risks in keeping Relief allowances so low that men cannot buy the clothing, the dentures, the tools which they need if they are to return to private employment. The solutions offered...
Page 285 - ... who was consulted advised her to give them up, as she was thought to be over-working. Although she had studied stenography she never took a stenographic position, but did some clerical work for six months, earning $8 a week. She soon lost interest in her work, and became depressed, remaining at home for a period of two years. At the end of this time she felt she would like to go to work in a distant city, although she had no friends there. She found a position there and at first worked well,...
Page 124 - Most men lived considerable distances from the center of employment and every time they looked for a job, they had to spend at least 10 cents on carfare. When one realizes that 10 cents would buy an additional quart of milk, one understands why many hesitated before starting out. If they were to make a day of job hunting, they would need another 10 cents for a bite of lunch.
Page 281 - ... other men on the job who have families the size of his. They are two or three months in arrears with their rent. He says that he could not stand this; that he has to feel that his rent is paid no matter what else happens. JAN. 25, Mr. Berger presented a diet list kept by his wife. The family 1938 seems to have been living on a diet which excludes milk, meat, or fish.