The truth about Third Reich unemployment figures

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Cerdic
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The truth about Third Reich unemployment figures

#1

Post by Cerdic » 29 Jan 2014, 20:48

In this thread I would like to work out how much the "real" reduction in unemployment was during 1933-1939. During this time period, the stated unemployment figures were reduced from around 6 million to a few hundred thousand.

But - as mentioned in the following articles:
http://web.archive.org/web/201001181556 ... employment
http://reason.com/archives/1999/08/01/nazi-economics http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/na ... conomy.htm

- Around 1.2 million men were absorbed into the army.
- Others took on work in the RAD
- Many women were removed from the job market altogether
- This also happened to Jews, communists and other "undesirables"

So - we know how many more men there were in the army in 1939 as opposed to 1933. But what are the numbers for the other categories? And if all these numbers are added together and deducted from the official fall in unemployment - how high was the more"real" fall in unemployment?
Last edited by Cerdic on 30 Jan 2014, 18:28, edited 1 time in total.

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Christian Ankerstjerne
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Re: The truth about Third Reich unemployment figures

#2

Post by Christian Ankerstjerne » 29 Jan 2014, 21:51

This is the best I could find in my documents. It's not exactly what you were looking for, but it should go some way to illustrate your point nonetheless: http://www.panzerworld.com/german-workforce-statistics


ljadw
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Re: The truth about Third Reich unemployment figures

#3

Post by ljadw » 30 Jan 2014, 12:43

Cerdic wrote:

- Many women were removed from the job market altogether
-
This is an old myth,but reality was different :in 1939 more women had a paid job than in 1933.

ljadw
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Re: The truth about Third Reich unemployment figures

#4

Post by ljadw » 30 Jan 2014, 13:13

There are a lot of sources available,but almost all in German .

ONE exemple :

Rüdiger Hartmann: Arbeitsmarkt und Arbeitszeit in der deutschen industrie 1929 bis 1939

Table 1: Sichtbare und unsichtbare Arbeitslosigkeit 1929 bis 1935

1929 : (january,february,march):sichtbare arbeitslosigkeit (official unemployment):3.O7 million; unsichtbar (hidden) : 0.64 million

1930: (same period):3.42 and 0.5 million

1931: 5.122 million and 0.86 million

1932:6.289 and 1.33

1933:6.281 and 1.5 million

1934:3.941 and 1.37

1935:3.071 and 0.74

Figures about quasi unemployment are not included


% of the hidden unemployment compared to the total

1929:17.3

1930;12.8

1931: 14.4

1932:17.5

1933: 19.3

1934:25.8

1935:19.4

The dissertaion of Hachtmann is available on the Web .

Cerdic
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Re: The truth about Third Reich unemployment figures

#5

Post by Cerdic » 30 Jan 2014, 17:35

There is an interesting prior discussion here: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 6&t=127603

A user quotes Evans:
"Nonetheless, the Nazis soon began loudly to proclaim that with measures such as these [make-work projects and removing women from the workforce through marriage loans etc] they had drastically reduced the catastrophic unemployment levels that had devastated the German economy and society since the end of the 1920s. By 1934 the official statistics showed that unemployment had fallen to less than half the levels of two years before; by 1935 it stood at no more than 2.2 million, and by 1937 it had dropped below the million mark. Hitler's boast that he would solve the unemployment problem within four years of taking office seemed to have been triumphantly justified. Incessant Nazi propaganda boasting that the 'battle for work' was being won gained widespread credence." (333)
"The regime was indeed far from averse to cooking the books. Not only men drafted into labour service but also previously unregistered family and other effectively unpaid farm helpers, most of whom were women, were not counted as employed. None of these people could be considered as active participants in the labour market; none of them received a regular wage with which they could support themselves, let alone support a family. On this reckoning there were at least one and a half million 'invisible unemployed' in Germany at this time, and the total number of unemployed, which Nazi statisticians put at just over two million, was in fact much nearer four. As late as January 1935, a contemporary observer reckoned that there were still over four million unemployed people in Germany. There were subtler methods of statistical manipulation too. Occasional workers were now counted as permanently employed..." (334-35).

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