Labour markets in recession and recovery: The UK and the USA in the 1920s and 1930s
Date
2013
Authors
Hatton, Timothy
Thomas, Mark
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Oxford Scholarship Online
Abstract
We examine the labour market experience of the UK and the US in the recessions of the early 1920s and the early 1930s and the subsequent recoveries. These were deep recessions, comparable to that of 2008-9, but the recoveries were very different. In the UK the recovery of the 1920s was incomplete but that of the 1930s was rather less protracted than in the US. By contrast the US experienced very strong recovery in the 1920s but weaker recovery from the much deeper recession of the 1930s. A key ingredient to understanding these patterns is the interaction between economic shocks and labour market institutions. Here we survey the large literature on interwar labour markets to identify the key elements that underpinned labour market performance. We find that developments in wage setting institutions and in unemployment insurance inhibited a return to full employment in interwar Britain while in the US, New Deal legislation impeded labour market adjustment in the 1930s. We conclude with an assessment of the policy responses to labour market crises in the past and in the present
Description
Keywords
Citation
Collections
Source
Type
Book chapter
Book Title
The Great Depression of the 1930s: Lessons for today
Entity type
Access Statement
License Rights
Restricted until
2037-12-31
Downloads
File
Description