It is an obvious statement that not all experiences of the Depression were the same. The 1930s are generally considered a time of great suffering and poverty. In fact, an overview of the era in economic terms shows a time of relative prosperity and this is especially true when compared to other countries like the United States and Germany, which for a time suffered from much bigger problems than Britain. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The first image that comes to most people's minds when they think of the Depression is that of the Jarrow Steps. Jarrow is a useful case study. The town, which is now in the county of Tyne and Wear, was a shipping area before 1929. The Wall Street Crash had a ripple effect around the world and eventually hit Jarrow. In her book "The Town That Was Murdered", Ellen Wilkinson talks about one of the major Palmer shipyards and its closure. She suggests that it was "financial weakness and not technical inefficiency" that caused the closure of Palmer's. The closure caused 8,000 layoffs! This northern region suffered from enormous poverty, which resulted in the march. It was a demand that the government do something. The North was not the only place where social problems developed in the wake of the Great Depression. In London, unemployed Welsh people were seen on the streets entertaining Londoners in order to make ends meet. Overall, there has been a marked increase in begging and crime levels in major cities. Unemployed men were often employed for a long time. This caused a different problem. Many companies, even in an upturn, would ideally not want to hire a man who has been unemployed for more than a year. Men will probably be less effective because they will not be up to date with recent techniques. Although unemployment has been a major problem for the government, many significant improvements have been recorded in the nation's quality of life. In the south there was an influx of new industries, such as the introduction of radio (the BBC was established in 1922). The practice of mass production has also crossed the Atlantic and automobile manufacturing is growing rapidly (it is the best in Europe). The electrical engineering market has also experienced growth, encouraged by the creation of the National Grid. In terms of social life in Britain, the cinema was a new popular attraction (in Liverpool it was so cheap that even the unemployed could afford to go!) and theaters saw a resurgence in attendance numbers. ticket sales. New buildings were being built and they were not limited to the south: in Glasgow, a 4,000-seat theater was built! Overall, the health of the nation improved. However, in some areas infant mortality was low, such as in Oldham where 10% of children died before the age of three. Rowntree also calculated that 70% of unemployed families were below the poverty line, leading to malnutrition. The north had been crippled by the collapse of basic industries, but the introduction of new industries in the south made the overall economic situation rather positive. . Gross domestic product (GDP) growth reached an impressive 2.1% on average. Unemployment was the main Achilles heel. The unemployment rate was 22% in 1932! Since most people had worked in one sector their whole life, their.