Word: joblessness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Before Harry Hopkins arrived on the scene, Roosevelt had a pet scheme of his own for the unemployed. An ardent conservationist, he wanted thousands of the jobless to work in the nation's parks and forests. His Civilian Conservation Corps prompted William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, to protest that "it smacks of Fascism, of Hitlerism, of a form of Sovietism." By the middle of July 1933, however, more than 300,000 youths between 18 and 25 were at work under Army discipline in 1,300 CCC camps. Among other things, they helped plant more than...
...Deal certainly did not get the country out of the Depression," says Columbia's William Leuchtenburg, author of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. "As late as 1941, there were still 6 million unemployed, and it was really not until the war that the army of the jobless finally disappeared." "Some of the New Deal legislation was very hastily contrived," says Williams College's James MacGregor Burns, author of a two-volume Roosevelt biography. Duke's James David Barber, author of The Presidential Character, notes that Roosevelt "was not too open about his real intentions, particularly...
...million in 1931, 12 million in 1932-one-quarter of the entire work force-and in stricken cities like Chicago the figure went as high as one-half. FORTUNE magazine estimated that 27.5 million Americans had no regular income at all. More than a million of the jobless roamed the country as hobos. Ugly clusters of tin-can shanties known as "Hoovervilles" sprouted in the midst of New York City's Central Park. Penniless men tried to sell apples on street corners. Many talked of revolution...
...would be a post-World War II record. Many other economists fear that the figure could reach 10%. If it does, and if unemployment stays high, the President's figures would be skewed. Every percentage point of unemployment adds $20 billion to the deficit in transfer payments (like jobless compensation) and revenue loss. One little noticed fact: although the number of jobless jumped to nearly 9.5 million in December from 7.8 million a year earlier, the number receiving unemployment compensation actually fell, to just under 4 million, from 4.2 million. One reason is that last year's budget...
...Administration is right in contending that the jobless rate will start falling in the spring, toward a year-end total of around 7.5%, Reagan may escape severe political damage. But if the rate rises into double digits by summer, the President's program will come under severe attack during a congressional session certain to be dominated by jockeying for partisan advantage in the November elections. -By George J. Church. Reported by David Beckwlth and Douglas Brew/Washington