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Alleviating inter-war unemployment

Unemployed man advertising for work.
Lack of welfare provision in the 1930s meant no safety-net for the unemployed.
©TopFoto

At the end of the First World War, Britain faced huge social and economic problems, and unemployment became the major social problem of the inter-war period. The government deployed an unemployment insurance scheme from November 1920 to alleviate unemployment.

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Further reading

  • Swann, B. & Turnbull, M., Records of Interest to Social Scientists 1919 to 1939 Employment and Unemployment (London: HMSO, 1978)
  • Garside, W., British Unemployment, 1919-1939 A Study in Public Policy (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990)