Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate for United States (M0892AUSM156SNBR) from Apr 1929 to Jun 1942 about unemployment, rate, and USA.

From the late 19th century until the 1980s, the United States' unemployment rate was generally somewhere between three and ten percent of the total workforce. The periods when it peaked were in times of recession or depression - the Panic of 1893, which lasted until 1897, saw unemployment peak at over 18 percent, whereas the post-WWI recession saw unemployment spike to almost 12 percent in 1921.

However, the longest and most-severe period of mass unemployment in U.S. history came during the Great Depression - unemployment rose from just 3.2 percent in 1929 to one quarter of the total workforce in 1933, and it was not until the Second World War until it fell below five percent once more. Since this time, unemployment has never exceeded 10 percent, although it did come close during the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s.

More recent unemployment statistics for the U.S. can be found here.

This survey forms part of the project 'Kris och krispolitik i Norden under mellankrigstiden' at the Department of History at Stockholm University. The study deals with the social conditions for unemployed during the depression in the thirties; who became unemployed, the circumstances of the entry into unemployment, the influence of unemployment on living condition, and possibilities to go back to work when the crisis is over. The dataset includes information on the situation of the unemployed at five different occasions during the thirties; 1930, the year of unemployment, 1933, year unemployment came to an end, and 1935.

NB: This series requires further research by an archivist to fully describe its function and content and to clarify the record keeping system and its relationship with other records.

The Public Works Department (VA 669) had wide-ranging responsibilities for all public works and buildings, including construction, maintenance and fitting out of these buildings. Other major responsibilities included roads and bridges, ports and harbours, local government and water supply

This series consists of the Ledgers for the Public Works department with details of their expenditure in each division of the Annual Treasury Financial Statement. Full details are given with respect to the amount of funds allocated, the dates of the expenditures, details of the claimants and of the services performed or goods provided, the amount expended and the forwarding of vouchers to the Treasury.

Some of these volumes also contain some details of expenditure under the Unemployment Relief Loan Act. During the Depression of the 1930s, Loans were arranged for obtaining funds to create work for the large numbers of unemployed. A large number of unemployment relief works were conducted under the auspices of the Public Works Department including the Yarra Boulevard. Recorded are the allocation and expenditure of some of these Unemployment Relief Loan Funds by the Department. Full details of dates, claimants, reasons for expenditure and amounts are given for each project undertaken. VPRS 10332/P Unit 6 records details of expenditure on mining or mining related projects. VPRS 10332/P Unit 4 records details of water and sewerage reclamation works and roads and bridges.

VPRS 10032/P was partly reserialised in 2001, the former unit 1 and unit 7 were removed and reserialised as VPRS 12688/P1 Ledgers (Ports and Harbours Branch).

One aim of the Soviet Union, and communist countries in general, was to achieve full employment. Official policy was designed to prevent unemployment, and the state stopped paying most unemployment benefits in the 1930s. Every citizen had the right (or requirement) to work, and jobs were allocated by the state, not competed for as they were in the west. People could apply for certain positions, based on their education, experience, or interests, but roles could often be distributed to meet employment demands, or preferential roles were distributed via nepotism. The socialist economic system removed job market competition, which provided increased job security but removed many of the incentives that boosted productivity (especially in later decades). In the 1970s and 1980s, average work weeks were under 35 hours long and people retired in their mid to late fifties. Compared to the U.S. in 1985, on average, work weeks were around four hours shorter in the USSR, and Soviet men retired five years earlier, while women retired nine years earlier than their American counterparts.

Wages In earlier years, wages had been tied to individual performance or output, however the de-Stalinization process of the 1960s introduced a more standardized system of payment; from this point onwards, base wages were more fixed, and bonuses had a larger impact on disposable income. Personal finances in the Soviet Union were very different from those in the west; wages were split into base salaries and bonuses, along with a social wage that was "paid" in the form of investments in housing, healthcare, education, and infrastructure, as well as subsidized vouchers for holidays and food. Many of these amenities were also provided by the state, which removed the individual costs that were required across the west and in post-Soviet states today. Overall, income and money in general had a much lower influence on daily life in the USSR than it did in the west, lessening factors such as financial stress and indebtedness, but restricting consumeristic freedom.

Gender differences A major difference between the East and West Blocs was the participation rate of women in the workforce. Throughout most of the USSR's history, women made up the majority of the workforce, with a 51.4 percent share in 1970, and 50.4 percent in 1989; in the U.S. figures for these years were 38 and 45 percent respectively. Although this was due to the fact that women also made up a larger share of the total population (around 53 percent in this period), Soviet women were possibly the most economically active in the world in these decades. When comparing activity rates of women aged between 40 and 44 across Europe in 1985, the USSR had a participation rate of 97 percent; this was the highest in the East Bloc (where rates ranged from 85 to 93 percent in other countries), and is much higher than rates in Northern Europe (71 percent), Western Europe (56 percent) and Southern Europe (37 percent).

This historical archive dataset, preserved by the National Archives, covers the artistic unemployed of Paris and its small crown from 1930 to 1962. It represents 117 archive boxes. This dataset was formed from the entry of individual files linked to the nominative files of each of the artists and craftsmen, asking for help to cope with unemployment, relief taken care of by the city of Paris. This dataset groups by professional category: • Craftsmen (ADA); • Dramatic artists and musicians (ADM); • Graphic and plastic artists (AGP). 7,079 nominative entries were entered. 2976 files for craftsmen (ADA), 3191 for dramatic artists and musicians (ADM) and 912 for graphic and plastic artists (AGP). Note that there are gaps: * Some artists have an individual record (and therefore an entry in the dataset) but the corresponding file has not been kept. These missing files will be scored over the course of the consultations and the link to the National Archives documentary portal will be replaced by “missing file”. On the other hand, the data in the sheet will be kept in the dataset; * Some artists have an individual file but the card does not exist, so they do not have an individual input into the dataset. The latter will be enriched by these missing records as the corresponding files are identified. The duplicates were collected within the same line during the seizure. The latter were quite numerous since an individual who made a request for a renewal of relief could be created a new file (but not systematically). The same file number can sometimes be assigned to two different individuals (the use of bis is not uniform). This is a rather common mistake, which can sometimes involve members of the same family. All entries on the data sheets have been included in the dataset: • Professional classification (ADA, ADM, AGP); • The file number (the letters B and E may appear pasted to the number. It is a benchmark for the administration of the time, B meaning “suburb” and E “foreign”. Both letters at once (BE) may also appear; • Name; • First name(s); • Artist name and civility; • Nationality and some mentions on nationality (“naturalised”, “refugee”); • Date of birth (YYYY/MM/DD); • The complete address (some correspond to streets that no longer exist today) and the Parisian district; • The profession and the specialty when the latter is informed; • The date of the emergency request (YYYY/MM/DD). As all this information is not systematically filled in for each sheet, some individual entries are therefore incomplete. The information on the data sheets has been added to the entry: • The sex of the individual; • Wikidata alignments (individuals and cities); • The INSEE code of the municipality; • Latitude and longitude; • The rating of the individual file that can be consulted in the reading room at the National Archives; • Links to the National Archives documentary portal. For more information, see the National Archives documentary portal: ‘HTTPS://WWW.SIV.ARCHIVES-NATIONALES.CULTURE.GOUV.FR/SIV/IR/FRAN_IR_000903’.

Throughout the 1920s, prices on the U.S. stock exchange rose exponentially, however, by the end of the decade, uncontrolled growth and a stock market propped up by speculation and borrowed money proved unsustainable, resulting in the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. This set a chain of events in motion that led to economic collapse - banks demanded repayment of debts, the property market crashed, and people stopped spending as unemployment rose. Within a year the country was in the midst of an economic depression, and the economy continued on a downward trend until late-1932.

It was during this time where Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) was elected president, and he assumed office in March 1933 - through a series of economic reforms and New Deal policies, the economy began to recover. Stock prices fluctuated at more sustainable levels over the next decades, and developments were in line with overall economic development, rather than the uncontrolled growth seen in the 1920s. Overall, it took over 25 years for the Dow Jones value to reach its pre-Crash peak.

PERIOD: Oct. 1, 1930. NOTE: The unemployed are classified based on their last occupation before becoming unemployed. SOURCE: Population Census of Japan; [Survey by the Statistics Bureau, Imperial Cabinet].

This series consists of files for applicants for the Unemployment Land Settlement Scheme. Details given in the applicants whose application was considered by a Lands Board are the name and address of the applicant and the decision of the Local Lands Board appointed to hear these applications or the failure of the applicant to appear at the hearing. Attached may be a sworn application form giving details of the applicant's family and financial situation. These files usually have a single tick on the front.

In the P2 consignment are files for persons who declined the offer of a block of land. Additional details are the location of the blocks of land offered and the reasons why the offer was declined either in the form of correspondence or notes by officials of the Department. These files usually have a double tick on the front.

Also included in the P2 consignment are the refused applications. These consist of the letters sent by applicants, sometimes marked by officers. Some letters have attached copies of correspondence to the applicant or to politicians who have made enquiries in the applicant's interest.

Land was available for the settlement of unemployed persons on the land as the Closer Settlement Board had land already purchased or reserved for the purposes of closer and/or soldier settlement. For example, under Section 99 of the Closer Settlement Act 1928 permits could be issued for grazing and cultivation on land acquired by the Board but not yet disposed of or applied for under a conditional purchase lease.

Under Section 6 of the Unemployment Relief Amendment Act 1930, sums of money were provided for these settlers to travel to the land and for the acquisition of hand tools and domestic use stock with under, initially, the supervision of the Unemployment Relief Works Board (VA 3146). Files relating to the provision of these funds may be seen in VPRS 10383 Unemployment Relief Files.

From 1920 until 1970, the workforce of the United States grew from approximately 27 million people to 79 million people. Despite this growth, the share of the workforce employed in agriculture fell, dropping from around 11 to 3.5 million people. In 1920, there were approximately three nonagricultural workers in the U.S. for every two agricultural workers; by 1970, this ratio had shifted to roughly 22 to one. Employment in nonagricultural sectors grew in most years, yet there were regular declines that coincided with recessions or war; the largest dip came during the Great Depression in the early-1930s. Agricultural employment peaked at 11.5 million in 1907, but went into decline thereafter, with the sharpest fall coming after the Second World War.

The data set compares the life circumstances of the unemployed with those of the employed people in the Netherlands. The main aim of this comparison is to indicate the effectiveness of government Support Scheme (‘Steunregeling’) for the unemployed citizens.

The Unemployment Relief Act 1930 established the Unemployment Relief Fund which was created to provide financial assistance to unemployed persons in Victoria. The Fund appropriated its funds from Unemployment Relief Taxes. Payments were made from the Fund to unemployed persons eligible for financial relief under the Act.

Unemployment Relief was sent periodically to individuals via post in the form of a cheque made payable to that individual for a prescribed amount.

This series records that these cheques were posted out by Treasury, it provides the following details:

Date [of entry]
Name [of payee]
Amount
Cheque No.
Date cheque despatched

Abstract (en): This collection includes county-level data from the United States Censuses of Agriculture for the years 1840 to 2012. The files provide data about the number, types, output, and prices of various agricultural products, as well as information on the amount, expenses, sales, values, and production of machinery. Most of the basic crop output data apply to the previous harvest year. Data collected also included the population and value of livestock, the number of animals slaughtered, and the size, type, and value of farms. Part 46 of this collection contains data from 1980 through 2010. Variables in part 46 include information such as the average value of farmland, number and value of buildings per acre, food services, resident population, composition of households, and unemployment rates. ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.. Response Rates: Not applicable. Datasets:DS0: Study-Level FilesDS1: Farm Land Value Data Set (County and State) 1850-1959DS2: 1840 County and StateDS3: 1850 County and StateDS4: 1860 County and StateDS5: 1870 County and StateDS6: 1880 County and StateDS7: 1890 County and StateDS8: 1900 County and StateDS9: 1910 County and StateDS10: 1920 County and State, Dataset 1DS11: 1920 County and State, Dataset 2DS12: 1925 County and StateDS13: 1930 County and State, Dataset 1DS14: 1930 County and State, Dataset 2DS15: 1935 County and StateDS16: 1940 County and State, Dataset 1DS17: 1940 County and State, Dataset 2DS18: 1940 County and State, Dataset 3DS19: 1940 County and State, Dataset 4 (Water)DS20: 1945 County and StateDS21: 1950 County and State, Dataset 1DS22: 1950 Crops, County and State, Dataset 2DS23: 1950 County, Dataset 3DS24: 1950 County and State, Dataset 4DS25: 1954 County and State, Dataset 1DS26: 1954 Crops, County and State, Dataset 2DS27: 1959 County and State, Dataset 1DS28: 1959 Crops, County and State, Dataset 2DS29: 1959 County, Dataset 3DS30: 1964 Dataset 1DS31: 1964 Crops, County and State, Dataset 2DS32: 1964 County, Dataset 3DS33: 1969 All Farms, County and State, Dataset 1DS34: 1969 Farms 2500, County and State, Dataset 2DS35: 1969 Crops, County and State, Dataset 3DS36: 1974 All Farms, County and State, Dataset 1DS37: 1974 Farms 2500, County and State, Dataset 2DS38: 1974 Crops, County and State, Dataset 3DS39: 1978 County and StateDS40: 1982 County and StateDS41: 1987 County and StateDS42: 1992 County and StateDS43: 1997 County and StateDS44: 2002 County and StateDS45: 2007 County and StateDS46: State and County Data, United States, 1980-2010DS47: 2012 County and State Farms within United States counties and states. Smallest Geographic Unit: FIPS code The sample was the universe of agricultural operating units. For 1969-2007, data were taken from computer files from the Census Bureau and the United States Department of Agriculture. 2018-08-20 The P.I. resupplied data and documentation for 1935 County and State (dataset 15) and 1997 County and State (dataset 43). Additionally, documentation updates and variable label revisions have been incorporated in datasets 22, 26, 28, 31, 35, and 38 at the request of the P.I.2016-06-29 The data and documentation for 2012 County and State (data set 47) have been added to this collection. The collection and documentation titles have been updated to reflect the new year.2015-08-05 The data, setup files, and documentation for 1964 Dataset 1 have been updated to reflect changes from the producer. Funding insitution(s): National Science Foundation (NSF-SES-0921732; 0648045). United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health (R01 HD057929).

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The complete Engineering Employers' Federation (EEF) payroll data have been transcribed from records kept at the University of Warwick's Modern Record Centre in order to provide electronic access. This is an especially rich source of data, representing roughly 30 percent of UK engineering. Detailed information are provided on wages (rates and earnings) and hours of work at engineering district, section, and occupational levels. Statistics separate pieceworkers and timeworkers as well as males and females. Information on apprentices, journeymen, boys and youths is also given. The statistics cover the period 1914 to 1968 and provide exceptional detail for the inter-war period (including the Great Depression), WWII, and the post-war recovery period. Unemployment rates covering 1926-1968 and matching 28 of the 56 engineering districts are also provided.

To date, research work carried out at the University of Stirling on these data include:

(a) A comprehensive descriptive analysis of all main features of the data.

(b) Wages and hours in British engineering in the inter-and post-war periods.

(c) The effect of the business cycles on the piece rates and time rates of pay.

(d) Female work and pay in engineering during WWII.

(e) Apprenticeship and journeymen relative pay and employment in the interwar period.




Main Topics:

The EEF data cover the period 1914-1968. They are divided into engineering districts, sections and occupations and by gender, piecework and timework. The available data files contain:

(a) District data for men: this covers 36 years between 1914 and 1968 (there are some missing years) for 25 occupations and 56 districts.

(b) Section data for men: for 28 years between 1930 and 1968 (again with missing years) for 25 occupations and 43 sections.

(c) District data for women: for 27 years between 1935 and 1968 for 55 districts. For 1935 to 1939 and 1945 to 1962 the breakdown is by women aged under and over 18. For 1940 to 1942 this is broken down further into women doing men's work and women doing women and boys' work. For 1966 to 1968 it is women under and over 21.

(d) Section data for Women: this is for 25 years between 1935 and 1968 covering 43 sections and with the same breakdown as the district data.

(e) Apprentices, Boys and Youths: both the district data and the section data covers 14 years between 1935 and 1958 for 55 districts and 29 sections.

(f) Night shift and 2/3 shift working: the district data it is just for two years, 1935 and 1936 for 51 districts while the section data is for five years from 1935 to 1939 covering 28 sections.

(g) Apprentices, journeymen and boys: this gives numbers of apprentices, journeymen and boys for 11 years from 1928 to 1938 covering 38 districts and 8 occupations.

(h) District unemployment rates: these have been made available for 28 of the EEF districts from 1926 to 1968.


Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.

The Long Depression was, by a large margin, the longest-lasting recession in U.S. history. It began in the U.S. with the Panic of 1873, and lasted for over five years. This depression was the largest in a series of recessions at the turn of the 20th century, which proved to be a period of overall stagnation as the U.S. financial markets failed to keep pace with industrialization and changes in monetary policy. Great Depression The Great Depression, however, is widely considered to have been the most severe recession in U.S. history. Following the Wall Street Crash in 1929, the country's economy collapsed, wages fell and a quarter of the workforce was unemployed. It would take almost four years for recovery to begin. Additionally, U.S. expansion and integration in international markets allowed the depression to become a global event, which became a major catalyst in the build up to the Second World War. Decreasing severity When comparing recessions before and after the Great Depression, they have generally become shorter and less frequent over time. Only three recessions in the latter period have lasted more than one year. Additionally, while there were 12 recessions between 1880 and 1920, there were only six recessions between 1980 and 2020. The most severe recession in recent years was the financial crisis of 2007 (known as the Great Recession), where irresponsible lending policies and lack of government regulation allowed for a property bubble to develop and become detached from the economy over time, this eventually became untenable and the bubble burst. Although the causes of both the Great Depression and Great Recession were similar in many aspects, economists have been able to use historical evidence to try and predict, prevent, or limit the impact of future recessions.

Key information about Romania population

• The Romania population reached 19.1 million people in Dec 2023, compared with the previously reported figure of 19.1 million people in Dec 2022
• The data reached an all-time high of 23.2 million people in Dec 1989 and a record low of 14.1 million people in Dec 1930

CEIC extends history for Population. The National Institute of Statistics provides year-end Population. Population prior to 1989 is a Mid-year estimate.


Further information about Romania population data

• In the latest reports, Romania Unemployment Rate dropped to 5.5 % in May 2023
• Monthly earnings of the Romania population was 1,884.3 USD in Nov 2024
• Romania Labour Force Participation Rate remained the same rate at 52.7 % in Jun 2024

The investigations on the world economic crisis ask the question about the causes and about the national process as well as about the appropriateness of the economic policy means to cope with the crisis. Regional distinctions are only made casually. In contrary to this, the investigator Petzina stresses in his investigation the regional economic developments during and after the world economic crisis and provides materials and information. The limits of a comparative regional history on crisis and economy are drawn by very different quality of the information of the available regional statistics. The application of the indicators ‘fiscal capacity’ and ‘economic overall turnover’ has proven to be usable, however, the lack of early indicators for the evaluation of economic development as well as the absence of regionalized reporting on industry can be compensated only with difficulties.

Topics

The following datatables are available via the search- and downloadsystem HISTAT (Topic: Growth, Economic situation, and Economic crisis (=Wachstum, Konjunktur und Krisen) )

Information: HISTAT is offered only in German language.

Tab.01 Volkseinkommen je Einwohner in den Regionen des Reiches, absolut (Preise von 1928) und in Prozent des Reichsdurchschnitts (1913-1936) (= National income per capita by the German Empire’s regions, absolut (prices of 1928) and in per cent of the Empire’s average)

Tab. 02a Gesamtumsätze in den Oberfinanzbezirken, in Milliarden Reichsmark (1928-1938) (= Total revenues by regional tax districts, in billion R-Mark)

Tab. 02b Gesamtumsätze in den Oberfinanzbezirken, 1928=100 (1928-1938) (= Total revenues by regional tax districts, basis-year=1928=100)

Tab. 03 Gesamtumsätze je Kopf der Bevölkerung in den Oberfinanzbezirken, in Reichsmark (1928-1938) (= Total revenues per capita of the population by regional tax districts, in R-Mark)

Tab. 04 Index der Summe der Personalsteuern je Einwohner nach Landesfinanzämtern (LFA), Basis 1928=100 (1930-1936) (= Index of the sum of personal taxes per capita (i.e. per inhabitant) by regional tax offices, basis-year = 1928 = 100)

Tab. 05a Regionale Steuerleistung (Personalsteuern je Einwohner/Mark in den Landesfinanzamtbezirken) (1928-1936) (= Regional tax payment (personal taxes per capita/mark of the regional tax districts)

Tab. 05b Steueraufkommen in den städtischen Bezirken je Einwohner (bis 10% landesweiter Bevölkerungsanteil), Reichsdurchschnitt=100 (1928-1937) (= Tax revenues by urban districts per capita (inhabitant).

Tab. 06a Die Steuerleistung nach Wirtschaftszonen: Personalsteuern, Rechnungsjahr, je Kopf der Bevölkerung, 1928=100 (1926-1938) (= Tax payment by economic regions: personal taxes, fiscal year, per capita of population)

Tab. 06b Die Steuerleistung nach Wirtschaftszonen: Abweichungen vom Reichsdurchschnitt (=100) in vH, Personalsteuern, je Kopf der Bevölkerung, 1928=100 (1926-1938) (= Tax payment by economic regions: deviaton from the Empires average in percent; personal taxes per capita of the population)

Tab. 07a Die Steuerleistung nach Wirtschaftszonen: Umsatzsteuer, Rechnungsjahr, je Kopf der Bevölkerung, 1928=100 (1926-1938) (= Tax payment by economic regions: sales tax, fiscal year, per capita)

Tab. 07b Die Steuerleistung nach Wirtschaftszonen: Umsatzsteuer, Abweichungen vom Reichsdurchschnitt (=100) in vH, je Kopf der Bevölkerung, 1928=100 (1926-1938) (= Tax payment by economic regions: sales tax, deviation from the Empires average in percent and per capita)

Tab. 08 Index der Beschäftigten nach Landesarbeitsamtbezirken, Jahresdurchschnitt 1930=100 (1930-1936) (= Index of employees by regional tax districts, annual average 1930 = 100)

Tab. 09 Arbeitslose in Prozent der Erwerbspersonen (Krankenkassenmitglieder) (1931-1936) (= Unemployment in percent of the labour force (health insurance members) )

Tab. 10 Empfangsstatistik für Baustoffe (Volumen), Index 1928=100 (1928-1936) (= Statistics of receipt of construction materials (volume)

Tab. 11a Anzahl der Arbeitslosen in den Städten mit mehr als 100.000 Einwohnern (1928-1940) (= Number of unemployed in towns with more than 100.000 inhabitants)

Tab. 11b Arbeitslose je 1000 Einwohner in den Städten mit mehr als 100.000 Einwohnern (1928-1940) (= Unemployed per 1000 inhabitants in towns with more than 100.000 inhabitants)

Data base of results of Reichstag elections between 1920 and 1933 as well as data on economic and social structure at various geographic aggregate levels (municipalities and districts); cross section analysis and longitudinal analysis possible. Topics: identification variables for the area units: name of survey unit, constituency affiliation, aggregate codes; Reichstag election results (6.6.1920, 4.5.1924, 7.12.1924, 20.5.1928, 14.9.1930, 31.7.1932, 6.11.1932, 5.3.1933); social-structural collective characteristics of area units: number of residents, denominational structure, structure of the population according to economic divisions and professional position, unemployment.

In 1800, the region of Germany was not a single, unified nation, but a collection of decentralized, independent states, bound together as part of the Holy Roman Empire. This empire was dissolved, however, in 1806, during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras in Europe, and the German Confederation was established in 1815. Napoleonic reforms led to the abolition of serfdom, extension of voting rights to property-owners, and an overall increase in living standards. The population grew throughout the remainder of the century, as improvements in sanitation and medicine (namely, mandatory vaccination policies) saw child mortality rates fall in later decades. As Germany industrialized and the economy grew, so too did the argument for nationhood; calls for pan-Germanism (the unification of all German-speaking lands) grew more popular among the lower classes in the mid-1800s, especially following the revolutions of 1948-49. In contrast, industrialization and poor harvests also saw high unemployment in rural regions, which led to waves of mass migration, particularly to the U.S.. In 1886, the Austro-Prussian War united northern Germany under a new Confederation, while the remaining German states (excluding Austria and Switzerland) joined following the Franco-Prussian War in 1871; this established the German Empire, under the Prussian leadership of Emperor Wilhelm I and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. 1871 to 1945 - Unification to the Second World War The first decades of unification saw Germany rise to become one of Europe's strongest and most advanced nations, and challenge other world powers on an international scale, establishing colonies in Africa and the Pacific. These endeavors were cut short, however, when the Austro-Hungarian heir apparent was assassinated in Sarajevo; Germany promised a "blank check" of support for Austria's retaliation, who subsequently declared war on Serbia and set the First World War in motion. Viewed as the strongest of the Central Powers, Germany mobilized over 11 million men throughout the war, and its army fought in all theaters. As the war progressed, both the military and civilian populations grew increasingly weakened due to malnutrition, as Germany's resources became stretched. By the war's end in 1918, Germany suffered over 2 million civilian and military deaths due to conflict, and several hundred thousand more during the accompanying influenza pandemic. Mass displacement and the restructuring of Europe's borders through the Treaty of Versailles saw the population drop by several million more.

Reparations and economic mismanagement also financially crippled Germany and led to bitter indignation among many Germans in the interwar period; something that was exploited by Adolf Hitler on his rise to power. Reckless printing of money caused hyperinflation in 1923, when the currency became so worthless that basic items were priced at trillions of Marks; the introduction of the Rentenmark then stabilized the economy before the Great Depression of 1929 sent it back into dramatic decline. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi government disregarded the Treaty of Versailles' restrictions and Germany rose once more to become an emerging superpower. Hitler's desire for territorial expansion into eastern Europe and the creation of an ethnically-homogenous German empire then led to the invasion of Poland in 1939, which is considered the beginning of the Second World War in Europe. Again, almost every aspect of German life contributed to the war effort, and more than 13 million men were mobilized. After six years of war, and over seven million German deaths, the Axis powers were defeated and Germany was divided into four zones administered by France, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the U.S.. Mass displacement, shifting borders, and the relocation of peoples based on ethnicity also greatly affected the population during this time. 1945 to 2020 - Partition and Reunification In the late 1940s, cold war tensions led to two distinct states emerging in Germany; the Soviet-controlled east became the communist German Democratic Republic (DDR), and the three western zones merged to form the democratic Federal Republic of Germany. Additionally, Berlin was split in a similar fashion, although its location deep inside DDR territory created series of problems and opportunities for the those on either side. Life quickly changed depending on which side of the border one lived. Within a decade, rapid economic recovery saw West Germany become western Europe's strongest economy and a key international player. In the east, living standards were much lower, although unemployment was almost non-existent; internationally, East Germany was the strongest economy in the Eastern Bloc (after the USSR), though it eventually fell behind the West by the 1970s. The restriction of movement between the two states also led to labor shortages in t...

The Public Works Department (VA 669) had wide-ranging responsibilities for all public works and buildings, including construction, maintenance and fitting out of these buildings. Other major responsibilities included roads and bridges, ports and harbours, local government and water supply. The Ports and Harbours Branch retained responsibility for all ports not under the jurisdiction of a separate authority such as those for Melbourne, Geelong and Portland and for certain lighthouses, buoys, wharves and jetties.

This series consists of the Ledgers for this Branch of the Public Works Department. Works and responsibilities are divided into categories. Full details are given with respect to the amount of funds allocated for each category, the dates of the expenditures, details of the claimants and of the services performed or goods provided, the amount expended and the forwarding of vouchers to the Treasury.

VPRS 12688/P1 was formerly registered as Units 1 and 7 of VPRS 10332 Ledgers, Unemployment Relief Loan Act Ledgers (1930-1941).