26 Ways People Were Making Money During The Great Depression Era (2024)

FAQs

How did people make money during Great Depression? ›

Money Making Ideas. Chopped and Sold Wood- The production of lumber fell drastically during the depression, but people still needed to heat their stoves. Chopping and selling wood was one occupation many turned to. Mowed Lawns-Many folks would mow lawns and offer other types of yard work services.

Not everyone, however, lost money during the worst economic downturn in American history. Business titans such as William Boeing and Walter Chrysler actually grew their fortunes during the Great Depression.

Depression scrip was used during the depression era (1930's) as a substitute for government issued currency. Because of the banks closing temporarily and the lack of physical currency, someone had to come up with another form of currency to keep the economy going and a way for trade to continue.

As stocks continued to fall during the early 1930s, businesses failed, and unemployment rose dramatically. By 1932, one of every four workers was unemployed. Banks failed and life savings were lost, leaving many Americans destitute. With no job and no savings, thousands of Americans lost their homes.

The average income was $1,368, and the average unemployment rate in the 1930s was 18.26 percent, up from the average of 5.2 percent in the 1920s.

At the height of the Depression in 1933, 24.9% of the nation's total work force, 12,830,000 people, were unemployed. Wage income for workers who were lucky enough to have kept their jobs fell 42.5% between 1929 and 1933. It was the worst economic disaster in American history.

Some of the assets that were sold included houses and land. Real estate companies would buy these assets at very low prices and later, when the depression was recovered, sell the assets at high prices as demand increased, making huge profits.

What did people used to use as money? ›

Native copper, meteorites or native iron, obsidian, amber, beads, copper, gold, silver and lead ingots have variously served as currency. People even used live animals such as cows until relatively recent times as a form of currency.

The Great Depression was partly caused by the great inequality between the rich who accounted for a third of all wealth and the poor who had no savings at all. As the economy worsened many lost their fortunes, and some members of high society were forced to curb their extravagant lifestyles.

Within the overall upswing, the main expansion occurred during the 1922 to 1923 and 1928 to 1929 periods, and it was most pronounced in the automobile, electrical goods, and (to 1926) construction industries.

While many of the richest people in America lost money when the stock market crashed, the upper classes as a whole still retained much of the wealth which they had held before the Depression and in most cases did not suffer from unemployment.

Banks failed—between a third and half of all U.S. financial institutions collapsed, wiping out the lifetime savings of millions of Americans. The familiar narrative of the Great Depression places banks among the institutions that suffered fallout from the crisis.

The Great Depression: Setting the Scene

During this time, stock prices plummeted, 9,000 banks went out of business, 9 million savings accounts were wiped out, 86,000 businesses failed and wages decreased by an average of 60%.

Most historians and economists agree that the stock market crash of 1929 wasn't the only cause of the Great Depression. Other factors including inactivity followed by overaction by the Fed also contributed to the Great Depression.

First, people who had money invested in the stock market lost much of their savings during the Wall Street Crash of 1929. This caused them to spend less, which created lower demand for goods and services. With businesses seeing a fall in spending, they cut back on output and employed fewer workers.

The average American family lived by the Depression-era motto: “Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.” Many tried to keep up appearances and carry on with life as close to normal as possible while they adapted to new economic circ*mstances. Households embraced a new level of frugality in daily life.

UNDERNEATH the misery of the Great Depression, the United States economy was quietly making enormous strides during the 1930s. Television and nylon stockings were invented. Refrigerators and washing machines turned into mass-market products. Railroads became faster and roads smoother and wider.

How much was a car during the Great Depression? ›

In the late 1930s, used cars sold for as much as $500, and automobile-operating expenses could be considerable. In addition to license plates, oil, and repairs, gasoline cost perhaps 19 cents per gallon. About 15 miles per gallon was standard, and even the best Depression-era tires didn't last long.

Milk. From 1900 until the 1930s, one dollar could buy 3.6 gallons of milk consistently, and then you could get even more (3.8 gallons) in the 30s for the same amount. After this, one dollar would buy less milk each decade as the cost of living increased leading to around 0.3 gallons from the 2000s onwards.

Food prices in the great depression. During the Great Depression, food prices plummeted. This was due to a combination of factors, some of which were not related to the recession itself. The 1920s had seen an oversupply of food.

It is a little known fact that more millionaires were made during The Great Depression than in any other era in U.S. history. Want to know how that happened so you can cash in on the economic crisis looming on the horizon?

Gold and cash are two of the most important assets to have on hand during a market crash or depression. Gold historically remains constant or only goes up in value during a depression.

Water. Water was also a commodity (probably the most important one of all) that many people didn't have access to during the Great Depression. In cities, people couldn't afford to pay their water bills, which meant their water was shut off.

Ancient civilizations used to use beads and shells as coins. Eventually, they began using precious metals to make coins. People in the ancient civilization of Lydia were among the first to use coins made of gold and silver. This currency was both valuable and easily portable.

The 4 different types of money as classified by the economists are commercial money, fiduciary money, fiat money, commodity money.

Long before money was invented, when people needed things they did not have, they exchanged their goods and services with others for their goods and services in return . We call it the Barter system.

Who was the richest person in America during the Great Depression? ›

1. FOOD STAPLE BUSINESS. More than half of the families whose businesses began in the Great Depression worked in the food industry. Starting small out of cars and homes, food entrepreneurs focused on lessening the impact that their business would have on their dependents.

Major federal programs and agencies included the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Farm Security Administration (FSA), the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA).

As consumer confidence vanished in the wake of the stock market crash, the downturn in spending and investment led factories and other businesses to slow down production and begin firing their workers. For those who were lucky enough to remain employed, wages fell and buying power decreased.

According to a study done by the Brookings Institute, in 1929 the top 0.1% of Americans had a combined income equal to the bottom 42%2. That same top 0.1% of Americans in 1929 controlled 34% of all savings, while 80% of Americans had no savings at all.

The average income was $1,368, and the average unemployment rate in the 1930s was 18.26 percent, up from the average of 5.2 percent in the 1920s.

Some of the assets that were sold included houses and land. Real estate companies would buy these assets at very low prices and later, when the depression was recovered, sell the assets at high prices as demand increased, making huge profits.

The Great Depression had devastating effects in countries both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits, and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25% and in some countries as high as 33%.

THE DEPRESSION IN THE CITIES In cities across the country, people lost their jobs, were evicted from their homes and ended up in the streets. Some slept in parks or sewer pipes, wrapping themselves in newspapers to fend off the cold. through garbage cans or begged.

Most of them were farming or employed at domestic service. Their wages averaged only $13 a month, and many of those who were farming may have had no cash income at all.

How much did farmers make during the Great Depression? ›

Farmers were still producing more food than consumers were buying, and now consumers could buy even less. Farm prices fell even further. Cotton had sold for 35 cents a pound in 1919 but only 6 cents a pound in 1931. National farm income fell from a high of $16.9 billion in 1919 to only $5.3 billion in 1932.

The monetary contraction, as well as the financial chaos associated with the failure of large numbers of banks, caused the economy to collapse. Less money and increased borrowing costs reduced spending on goods and services, which caused firms to cut back on production, cut prices and lay off workers.

Within the overall upswing, the main expansion occurred during the 1922 to 1923 and 1928 to 1929 periods, and it was most pronounced in the automobile, electrical goods, and (to 1926) construction industries.

1. FOOD STAPLE BUSINESS. More than half of the families whose businesses began in the Great Depression worked in the food industry. Starting small out of cars and homes, food entrepreneurs focused on lessening the impact that their business would have on their dependents.