1. Social Impacts

While the depression had negative effects on the economy and state of California, it was hardest on the people. Discouragement and despair mounted to retool the human tragedy, the fundamental consequences of which are incalculable. The suffering of the unemployed in California during the early thirties was, without a doubt, intense. By 1933, unemployment among the state’s paid labor force had risen to around twenty-eight percent, compared to about twenty-five percent nationally. In the cities, unemployment had reached disaster proportions, with rates from forty to fifty percent in Los Angeles, and as high as fifty-eight percent in Long Beach. These rates may not have been higher than some eastern cities, but they were overwhelming to a state with comparatively recent urban development. Primarily dependent on agriculture and a favorable climate, the cities of California had always held out the promise of comfortable living to these people. The harsh reality of widespread unemployment was particularly disillusioning, if only because of unfulfilled expectations. But the worst of the depression years was the sheer inability to find work at any wage. This feature was not as pronounced in California as in overindustrialized areas, where there was a surplus labor pool fighting for fewer jobs. Many workers, at the hot prospect of available field or seasonal labor, would have been content with low wages, were quite unable to find any work in agriculture. And unemployment in agriculture by 1935 had risen to an average of thirty-nine percent for the year. No class or group was spared the effect of unemployment, although some suffered less because they had savings. High unemployment rates did have one beneficial consequence worth stating. In view of the great amount of slack labor, employers were particularly resistant to the establishment of minimum wage legislation, for fear that they would not be able to afford wages as the economy improved. This was a paradoxical but definite victory for labor, since the same opposition to the legislation in more prosperous times would have meant the abolition of existing minimum wage rates.

1.1. Unemployment rates

Unemployment rates are identified by the amount of jobless individuals who are on the labour market within a certain period of time. During the past 70 years, the level of unemployment within the Great Britain has hit multiple ups and downs. For the Great Depression, it is often said to be the incentive that triggered the unusual increase in unemployment. Before 1929, Britain was experiencing booming times and low unemployment. In 1928, the level of unemployment stood at 8.5% with a slow, but decreasing trend. This was all to change after the first year of the Depression, unemployment began to increase fairly substantially. Between 1930 and 1934, there was a fast and continuing increase in joblessness and by 1932, the unemployment rate had doubled. By 1938, the unemployment rate had stayed above 10% and it was not until the war when it decreased below this level. It is more than clear that the lead up and early stages of the Depression caused severe consequences for labour market and the high unemployment rates persisted for over a decade. The unemployment rates fluctuations were diverse across occupations and the regions of Britain, but groups hardest hit were often those with the highest wage rates, youths and unskilled workers. It was said that duration was the better measure of the experience of unemployment in the 1930s, and across these ages, unemployment had severe consequences, whether it was physical and mental health of the older men or leaving a lasting impact on the attitudes and activities of the youths emerging into the labour market. The burden of unemployment was best summarised in a survey of Sterling, a working class district of Scotland in 1938 which credited the period as “12 years of sorrow and suffering”. The experience of unemployment was so significant that it encouraged a considerable change in the attitude of society toward unemployment and in public policy.

1.2. Homelessness

The depression in the state dramatically changed the community’s familiarity with the growth of shantytowns, now commonly known as Hoovervilles, in admiration of the President who was in control at the time. The most significant sign of the shantytowns was the number of abandoned and destitute families. For example, it was normal for many families to eat only two or three times what their elders had during the bumper crop years. Children remember the depression years as a very solemn part of their lives, with unsettling sights, sounds, and smells. Widespread poverty and unemployment, dirt roads, and squalor plagued the entire community. Many families lost their electricity and jobs, forcing their children to move to other towns to find work. During the 1930s, reports said few U.S. cities had as many underprivileged children as Metal ‘take Ranch in California’s Central Valley. The Great Depression was a difficult and challenging time for families. It came after years of hard work and determination by both parents to improve the lives of their families. Many pushed themselves harder than on the farm, where success was expected. Motivated by the idea of owning their own land and achieving a better economic status, they took on additional responsibilities and, despite constant setbacks, moved their families to the farm in pursuit of better opportunities. This era is remembered as the bleak period between hope and eviction from the farm. In the early 1930s, the landless farmer waded through confusion, shame, and despair. The threat of eviction was always looming, and it was rarely easy to determine the exact time and date it would happen.

1.3. Migration patterns

During the Great Depression, people migrated to California from the rest of the United States in search of employment. As a result, during the 1930s, California’s population increased from 5,677,251 in 1930 to 6,907,387 in 1940. This was largely due to the people who migrated seeking a better life. Most of the migrants were from the Midwestern and Southern states. The immigration from the South can be split into two different groups. There were over 200,000 people, known as the “Okies,” who were primarily white sharecroppers and tenant farmers from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. They were largely from families who had lost their land and were looking for a new start. With a highly visible migration, Okies were criticized by local Californians who believed that they were stealing jobs and overloading relief agencies. Many of the “Okies” found work in the cotton fields where wages had dropped so low that few others would work. The cotton growers were relieved to have a surplus of workers and were often seen giving out free meals to attract more workers. This helped alleviate some of the hunger among the migrants. The black migration from the South to California was inspired by various factors. High on the list of reasons was the opportunity to find better work and pay wages than in the Southern states. Many also sought to escape the sharecropping system which was extremely similar to a new form of slavery. Although most were attracted to California by job opportunities in defense industries, many ended up in agricultural work.

1.4. Poverty levels

The income reduction was widespread. In the final years of the decade, one-earner families were more likely to fall into poverty than in 1929. Measures of poverty, such as malnutrition, increased in the US during the decade. The number of children under fourteen who lived in families with annual incomes below half the subsistence level rose from 36.3% in 1929 to 42.3% in 1933. In big cities, three-fourths of children were in such families. These adverse demographic trends fed on themselves: malnutrition and under stimulation lowered the body’s resistance to disease, and substandard living conditions of malnourished persons fostered illness. The life and health of poor families were adversely affected by government and charitable responses to their plight. While it could have been handled on a community basis, welfare was individualized; the stated goal being to return the head of household to work. In practice the aged, disabled, and many dependent children were abandoned. For the unlucky, hard work and good character were insufficient to ensure success. Erosion of the work ethic, and increasing racial and ethnic tensions undermined the traditional United States support for the less fortunate.

2. Cultural Impacts

2.1. Artistic expression

2.2. Literature and music

2.3. Entertainment industry

2.4. Changes in fashion

2.5. Impact on minority communities

3. Political Impacts

3.1. Government response

3.2. New Deal policies

3.3. Labor movements

3.4. Impact on political ideologies

4. Economic Impacts

4.1. Decline in agriculture

4.2. Banking and financial crisis

4.3. Changes in industry and manufacturing

4.4. Impact on trade and commerce

5. Environmental Impacts

5.1. Dust Bowl phenomenon

5.2. Agricultural practices

5.3. Conservation efforts

6. Psychological Impacts

6.1. Mental health issues

6.2. Psychological trauma

6.3. Social stigmatization

7. Educational Impacts

7.1. School closures

7.2. Access to education

7.3. Changes in curriculum

8. Healthcare Impacts

8.1. Access to medical care

8.2. Public health challenges

8.3. Impact on healthcare infrastructure

9. Infrastructure Impacts

9.1. Construction projects

9.2. Public transportation

9.3. Urban development

10. Social Movements

10.1. Labor strikes

10.2. Civil rights movements

10.3. Women’s suffrage movement