Project

• Overview / Forward

In 1933, the majority of households had one income/earner, and about one out of every four workers was unemployed. Unemployment typically lasted for longer than one year, and those who were fortunate to have jobs experienced cutbacks in hours or wages earned. Agricultural and manufacturing workers were hit the hardest, as were older workers and black men.1

Labor unions had been on the rise since the late 19th Century and were responsible for worker protection such as creating standard workdays, fair wages, safe environments, and just systems. Unions lost steam during the 1920s when legislation turned in favor of businesses in order to stoke the post-war economy, but they grew again as unskilled labor started to organize.

1930’s Milestones:

• 1932 – Norris-LaGuardia Act.2
• 1933 – National Industrial Recovery Act.3
• 1933 – United States Employment Service reinstated.4
• 1937 – National Apprenticeship Act passed. (Fitzgerald Act)5
• 1938 – Fair Labor Standards Act passed. (FLSA)6
• 1938 – Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) is published for the first time7

References

1. Throughout the ‘Great Depression’ 25% of the workforce was unemployed. The Labor Market During the Great Depression and the Current Recession. 
2. The Norris-La Guardia Act removed barriers against organized labor and union activities; outlawed pledges that employees were sometimes forced to take that they would not join unions. Norris–La Guardia Act
3. The National Industrial Recovery Act allowed FDR to regulate industry, including prices and wages, in order to stimulate economic recovery. National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933

4. The United States Employment Services, USES, was an agency of the federal government that originally was created in the 1890s to provide a labor exchange and job finding assistance to mostly immigrant job seekers and employers. It was not successful until it was reinstated by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Wagner-Peyser Act established to improve coordination of services for the unemployed during the depression to directly hire for the many government funded work-programs. By WWII USES was working with every state. (Unfortunately, it was not referring to all job seekers equally and even stated it would “make all referrals without regard to race, color, creed, or national origin except when an employer’s order includes these specifications…” ) United States Employment Service

5. The Fitzgerald Act created standards to promote the safety of apprentices and OJT training programs. History and Fitzgerald Act
6. The FLSA established a worker’s right to minimum wage and overtime. https://bit.ly/3f2UYR6

7. The Dictionary of Occupational Titles is the motherlode of job descriptions. This publication was produced by the US Department of Labor for employers, government officials, and workforce development professionals. It defined over 13,000 different types of work during its existence from 1938 – 1999. Job analysts visited thousands of US worksites to observe and record the detailed skills, knowledge and experience for work. The DOT was replaced by O*Net starting in 1997. (The 1962 edition of the DOT was created in a project led by John Sumser’s father, Raymond J. Sumser) Dictionary of Occupational Titles – Wikipedia