Question

What were the main sources of direct relief during the Great Depression?

Answer 1

Hint: Direct relief (cash compensation or "the dole") was provided to those in urgent and dire need; however, work relief (volunteering on government projects in return for relief payments) was established to give unemployed workers the dignity of working for a salary, no matter how small.

Complete answer:
The Great Depression – The Great Depression was a global economic decline that started in 1929 and ended around 1939. It was the longest and most extreme depression the industrialized Western world had ever known, resulting in profound shifts in economic structures, macroeconomic policy, and economic theory. Despite its origins in the United States, the Great Depression resulted in sharp drops in productivity, high unemployment, and significant deflation in nearly every country on the planet.

The main sources of direct relief during the Great Depression -
- To address the crisis, several federal agencies were created.
- FDR had multiple acts passed shortly after his inauguration, resulting in the establishment of several organizations that assisted the needy. The New Deal was the name given to this policy. The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), the NRA (National Recovery Agency established by the National Industrial Recovery Act), and the Agricultural Adjustment Agency (established by the Agricultural Adjustment Act) were among the agencies that offered direct assistance by providing employment, for example (like the CCC)
- Nonetheless, direct aid was not really offered until the 1960s, when measures like the Food Stamp were implemented.

Note: Human misery was the most crippling effect of the Great Depression. The world's productivity and living conditions plummeted in a short period of time. In the early 1930s, up to one-fourth of the labor force in developed countries was unemployed. Although conditions started to change in the mid-1930s, it took until the end of the decade for the country to fully recover.