THE GREAT DEPRESSION – USING CENSUS DATA TO ADDRESS AN ECONOMIC CRISIS

STUDENT VERSION

Activity Items

The following items are part of this activity and appear at the end of this student version.

• Item 1: Unemployment Census Photo
• Item 2: Map of the United States Showing Geographic Divisions: 1937
• Item 3: Percentage of the Population 15 to 74 Years of Age in Enumerative Check Areas Unemployed (Including Emergency Workers) and Partly Unemployed, by Sex, for Geographic Divisions: 1937

Student Learning Objectives

• I will be able to study map data on U.S. unemployment (people without jobs) in 1937 and explain why it was helpful to collect this kind of data during the Great Depression, even between the regular censuses that happen every ten years.
• I will be able to form an opinion about the New Deal—the set of government programs created to fight the Depression—and support that opinion with specific data.

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Introduction

As part of the 1930 census, taken near the start of the Great Depression, people were asked about their jobs. If someone hadn't worked the day before the census-taker visited, they had to answer more questions: Could they work? Were they looking for a job? How long had they been unemployed? Why weren't they working?

But lawmakers and government leaders needed more information, and they needed it more often, to understand just how bad the economic crisis was. This information would help them build and support the New Deal programs. So in 1937—between the 1930 and 1940 censuses—the Census Bureau ran two separate unemployment surveys.

The first was voluntary, meaning people chose whether or not to fill it out, and it was mailed to every home in the country. The second was called the Enumerative Check Census. It was sent to about 510,000 households and was the first attempt to estimate unemployment across the whole nation by surveying random samples of the population (a "sample" is a smaller group chosen to represent everyone). The Census Bureau picked areas at random along postal mail routes, skipping business districts. However, this method left out the 18 percent of Americans who didn't live along a mail route, so the results weren't as accurate as hoped. (See Item 1: Unemployment Census Photo for context.)

Even though the voluntary survey reached every home, it ended up underreporting how many people were actually unemployed. The Enumerative Check Census, which used random sampling, actually gave a more accurate picture of unemployment across the country.

The first regular ten-year census to use this kind of statistical sampling was in 1940. Sampling allowed the Census Bureau to ask extra, more detailed questions without spending too much extra money or asking too much of every single person. That year, census workers—called enumerators—asked a random sample of about 5 percent of the population additional questions beyond the main census form. The Census Bureau then used the answers from that sample to estimate information for the entire country.

From then on, sampling remained a regular part of the census through the end of the 1900s, with a certain percentage of people asked to complete longer, more detailed surveys. Today, the Census Bureau continues this practice through the American Community Survey, which is now conducted every month.

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Questions

1. At the time of the 1930 Census, given the widespread effects of the 1929 stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression, why might people have been hesitant to share information about their job status with a census worker who visited them in person?

1. What were the benefits and drawbacks of collecting unemployment data in 1937, in between the regular 1930 and 1940 censuses?

1. What were the benefits and drawbacks of asking a random sample of people extra questions beyond the standard census questionnaire?

1. Look at Item 2: Map of the United States Showing Geographic Divisions: 1937 and Item 3: Percentage of the Population 15 to 74 Years of Age in Enumerative Check Areas Unemployed (Including Emergency Workers) and Partly Unemployed, by Sex, for Geographic Divisions: 1937. Which region or regions of the country had the highest percentages of unemployment for both men and women?

1. Which region likely needed the least amount of money for New Deal programs? Explain your answer using data from Item 3.

1. Imagine you are a member of Congress in 1938. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is asking for more funding for the New Deal. Using data from Item 3 and what you already know about this time period, make an argument either for or against increasing New Deal funding.

1. Which New Deal programs, started between 1930 and 1940, could have benefited from having good unemployment statistics?

1. Besides employment, what other topics would have been useful to include in the census survey to help lawmakers better understand how the Great Depression was affecting American families?

1. What kinds of questions do you think are important to include in today's American Community Survey to help track major trends among the U.S. population right now?

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Item 1: Unemployment Census Photo

Census Bureau Director William L. Austin and Unemployment Census Director John D. Biggers supervise the receipt and check-in of questionnaires from the 1937 unemployment census, November 24, 1937.

www.census.gov/history/www/sights_sounds/photos/1930_photos.php#
Click on the link above to see the photo gallery online.

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Item 2: Map of the United States Showing Geographic Divisions: 1937

archive.org/stream/censusofpartiale04bigg#page/76/mode/2up
Click on the link above to see the original map.

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Item 3: Percentage of the Population 15 to 74 Years of Age in Enumerative Check Areas Unemployed (Including Emergency Workers) and Partly Unemployed, by Sex, for Geographic Divisions: 1937

archive.org/stream/censusofpartiale04bigg#biggpage/78/mode/2up
Click on the link above to see the original maps.