Unemployment and Economic Policy before 1939

John Grieve Smith

Chapter 2 in Full Employment: A Pledge Betrayed, 1997, pp 15-34 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Unemployment first became a major economic problem in the years between the Wars. Although unemployment before the First World War had become recognised as a serious social problem, it had been much less widespread. Recorded unemployment in that period was very much a cyclical problem, mainly apparent in times of trade recession. Before the institution of general unemployment insurance in 1920, the only figures available refer to trade union members. From 1881 to 1914 the percentage of trade union members unemployed each year ranged from 2 to 10 per cent, averaging 4.7 per cent (see Table 2.1). Although the trade union returns probably understate the level of unemployment compared with the later insurance figures, unemployment before 1914 was still not much over one-third of the levels reached in the 1920s and 1930s.1

Keywords: Public Investment; Unemployment Insurance; Full Employment; Labour Movement; Liberal Party (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-37238-2_2

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230372382_2

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