Unemployment and Labour Market Flexibility in the Great Depression.
In historical studies of the labour market, one of the most extensively debated subjects has been unemployment during the Great Depression of the 1930s. According to a new panel data, the unemployment rate among construction workers in Helsinki was 45% in spite of extensive relief work. At the same...
| Published in: | Scandinavian Journal of History Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 139 - 161 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jun2008
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| Summary: | In historical studies of the labour market, one of the most extensively debated subjects has been unemployment during the Great Depression of the 1930s. According to a new panel data, the unemployment rate among construction workers in Helsinki was 45% in spite of extensive relief work. At the same time, real hourly wages dropped 25-35% and piecework rates 40-60%, which was an even more exceptional phenomenon. The main reasons for these phenomena were difficulties in financing construction work, the weakness of the trade union and the lack of unemployment benefits. |
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