OCR Specification focus:
‘the impact of the Great Depression; unemployment in the interwar period, causes, extent, regional patterns’
The Great Depression was a defining feature of Britain’s interwar years, reshaping economic life and politics. Unemployment levels, their causes, and geographical disparities were central concerns.
Economic Context of the Great Depression
Britain faced economic difficulties long before the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Reliance on staple industries such as coal, steel, shipbuilding, and textiles left the economy vulnerable to global market fluctuations. These industries were export-dependent, and declining international demand in the 1920s exposed structural weaknesses.
The Wall Street Crash intensified these problems. Britain, tied into global finance and trade, experienced a sharp contraction in demand for exports. As world trade collapsed between 1929 and 1932, British industries suffered severely.
Causes of Unemployment in the Interwar Period
The roots of mass unemployment can be broken down into several overlapping causes:
Global economic downturn: The decline in international trade following the Wall Street Crash reduced demand for British goods.
Declining staple industries: Coal, textiles, and shipbuilding could not compete with more modern, efficient competitors overseas.
Technological change: Increased mechanisation displaced labour in mining and manufacturing.
Structural weaknesses: Britain had been slow to diversify into newer industries such as chemicals, automobiles, and electrical engineering.
Gold Standard policy: Britain returned to the Gold Standard in 1925 at an overvalued exchange rate, making exports expensive and reducing competitiveness.
Gold Standard: A monetary system in which a country’s currency is directly linked to a fixed quantity of gold, restricting economic flexibility.
Unemployment was thus both cyclical (linked to the global crash) and structural (long-term inefficiencies in Britain’s economic base).
Extent of Unemployment
Unemployment reached crisis levels during the early 1930s. By 1932, unemployment peaked at over 3 million, representing around 20% of the workforce. The situation was particularly acute in certain industries and regions.
The scale of the problem led to widespread distress and disillusionment, challenging the state’s ability to provide adequate relief. The dole system—unemployment benefits—was introduced to alleviate hardship, but became politically contentious, particularly with the introduction of the Means Test in 1931, which assessed household income before benefits could be given.
Means Test: A system of assessing financial support eligibility by examining total household income, often leading to disqualification if relatives were employed.
The Means Test was widely resented, perceived as humiliating and unfair, and sparked protests across industrial regions.
By 1933, over 3 million people were unemployed; although recovery began after 1934, joblessness remained far above pre-war norms.
UK unemployment rate, 1881–1989, highlighting the interwar spike with a peak around 1932–33. The curve makes clear that unemployment remained elevated for much of the 1930s compared with the pre-1914 era. The wider historical range shown here exceeds the syllabus focus but helps contextualise the severity of the interwar crisis. Source
Regional Patterns of Unemployment
Unemployment in Britain during the Great Depression was not evenly spread. Instead, it revealed stark regional divides:
Depressed Areas
North-East England, South Wales, Scotland (Clydeside): These regions depended on heavy industry and exports.
Unemployment rates often exceeded 40% in mining communities.
Social problems, including poverty, poor housing, and malnutrition, were acute.
More Prosperous Areas
South and Midlands: Areas such as the Home Counties, Birmingham, and parts of London saw the growth of new industries like car production, electrical goods, and light engineering.
Rising consumer demand supported employment in these regions, creating a “two-speed” economy.
This divergence created a sense of division between the ‘depressed areas’ and the more modernising regions, contributing to uneven standards of living.
Unemployment clustered in depressed areas tied to staple industries—notably South Wales, Tyneside, Clydeside, West Cumberland and parts of Scotland—while the Midlands and South generally prospered.
Ordnance Survey map indicating the coalfields of Great Britain, showing the spatial footprint of the mining industry that underlay many of the 1930s depressed areas. Although the base map dates from the 1940s and covers the whole country, the coalfield geography changed little from the interwar period. Extra detail beyond the syllabus (e.g., all coalfield labels) is present but can be skimmed. Source
Government Responses and Policies
The British government initially adhered to orthodox economic policy, seeking balanced budgets and protection of the pound’s value. In practice, this meant limiting state intervention.
Key measures included:
Unemployment Insurance Act (1930): Expanded benefit coverage but strained government finances.
Introduction of the Means Test (1931): Aimed at reducing benefit spending, but socially divisive.
Special Areas Act (1934): Targeted investment and aid to high-unemployment regions, though with limited success.
Abandonment of the Gold Standard (1931): This allowed sterling to depreciate, boosting exports and easing recovery in certain sectors.
However, critics argue that policies were piecemeal and failed to address the deep structural problems.
Social and Political Consequences
Unemployment shaped British politics in the interwar years:
Rise of Labour Party support: Labour presented itself as the defender of working-class interests against Conservative austerity.
Disillusionment with government: Many unemployed saw the National Government as unresponsive, particularly in depressed areas.
Radical responses: The Communist Party gained traction in some regions, organising hunger marches such as the Jarrow Crusade (1936).
Jarrow Crusade: A protest march in 1936 by unemployed workers from Jarrow to London, highlighting the plight of depressed industrial areas.
The visibility of such protests drew national attention to the severity of unemployment, even if immediate policy change was limited.
Recovery Patterns
While the economy began to recover after 1932, recovery was uneven. Growth was most evident in new industries and the housing boom, which created jobs in the South and Midlands. Yet, the ‘old’ industrial areas continued to suffer high levels of unemployment until rearmament in the late 1930s stimulated demand.
In this way, unemployment during the Great Depression was both a symptom of immediate global crisis and a reflection of Britain’s long-term economic weaknesses. Its impact on society and politics remained profound throughout the interwar years.
FAQ
The 1931 financial crisis saw Britain abandon the Gold Standard after a run on sterling.
This depreciation helped exporters in the long term, but in the short term it fuelled government austerity. The National Government cut unemployment benefits and introduced the controversial Means Test. These measures reduced household spending power and deepened hardship in depressed areas, reinforcing already high unemployment levels.
Women often faced hidden unemployment because they were not always included in official statistics.
Many lost jobs in textiles, domestic service, and light manufacturing.
Married women were sometimes excluded from benefits under the “marriage bar.”
Families relied heavily on women’s part-time or casual earnings to supplement the dole.
This created tension as women bore additional burdens of poverty management and family survival.
New industries—such as car manufacturing, electrical goods, and chemicals—emerged mainly in the South and Midlands.
These industries were geographically distant from the North and Wales, making it hard for unemployed miners or shipbuilders to relocate.
Additionally, the new industries demanded different skills, and many unemployed workers from heavy industry lacked relevant training. As a result, regional imbalances persisted.
Despite mass unemployment, the 1930s saw a housing boom in more prosperous areas.
Cheap borrowing after leaving the Gold Standard and lower building costs boosted private house construction.
Expanding suburbs in the South and Midlands absorbed workers in construction and related trades.
By contrast, depressed regions saw little new building, reinforcing geographic inequalities in living conditions.
The unemployed organised hunger marches to draw national attention to hardship.
The most famous was the Jarrow Crusade (1936), where 200 marchers walked to London.
Earlier protests were coordinated by the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement (NUWM), which staged marches from 1932 onwards.
Although the government offered little direct change in response, these marches helped shape public debate about the fairness of unemployment relief and regional neglect.
Practice Questions
Question 1 (2 marks):
Identify two British industries that were particularly affected by unemployment during the Great Depression.
Mark scheme:
1 mark for each correct industry identified (maximum 2 marks).
Acceptable answers include: coal, shipbuilding, textiles, steel, iron.
Question 2 (6 marks):
Explain why unemployment in Britain during the Great Depression was unevenly distributed across different regions.
Mark scheme:
Award up to 6 marks.
1–2 marks: Simple or general statements (e.g., “Some areas had high unemployment, others did not”).
3–4 marks: Some explanation, showing awareness of regional variation (e.g., “South Wales and the North-East were affected because they depended on coal and shipbuilding, while the South had more new industries”).
5–6 marks: Developed explanation with clear analysis of causes of uneven distribution. To achieve full marks, responses should refer both to staple industry decline in depressed areas (e.g., South Wales, Tyneside, Clydeside, West Cumberland) and growth of new industries (e.g., car production, electrical goods, housing boom in the Midlands and South). Answers should demonstrate clear understanding of why these contrasts existed.
