What was it like to be unemployed?

1
What was it like to be unemployed?

• Life in the 1930s

2
Aims of the lesson

• In this lesson you will learn about
• Experiences of the unemployed
• Evaluating the utility or reliability of sources

3
Background

• 3 million unemployed in 1932
• Had to sign on at an Employment Exchange once a
  week in order to get the dole
• Some twice a day
• No NI means test. Would reduce dole if you had
  any money

4
Life on the dole

• BMA survey 1933 5s 1d to feed a person
• 1938 44 on dole below this threshold
• Should you stick to your trade or take a casual
  job?
• How would you feed your family?
• What about beer and cigarettes?
• Savings clubs prospered saving up in case of
  unemployment

5
Alfred Smith and his family

• In 1939 the magazine Picture Post did a feature
  on Alfred Smith and his family
• Lived in Peckham (South London) and had a wife
  and four children
• Out of work for four years
• Signed on three times a week
• Lived in a basement flat
• Showed middle class people what life was like on
  the dole

6
Your task

• Look at sources A and B and do a DAMMIT analysis
  on them
• How reliable are they think about who wrote
  them and what their purpose was
• Answer the 10 mark question look at your
  laminated sheet to help you to structure it.
• Remember that no source is completely useless
  some are just more useful than others