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The Susso is an Australian slang term referring to "sustenance" (welfare) payments, especially during the Great Depression. "Susso" could also be used as a noun, for someone depending on such payments, [1] often unsympathetically.
By late 1929, the Great Depression had hit all Western countries.
The prices of wool and wheat — two of the nation’s biggest exports — had been in rapid decline. Overseas investments and loans started to disappear. As money became tight, there was a large decrease on spending on public work, which led to an increase in unemployment. The unemployment was further exacerbated by the falling income from primary producers. At the end of 1929, Australia's unemployment rate sat at around 13%. By 1932, it had peaked at a staggering 29%.
Though the downturn in the economy had a much greater effect on the lives of the poor, not even the very rich could ignore the situation, as evidence of the Depression could be found everywhere. It was seen in the dole queues, soup kitchens doling out staple, filling foods, such as bread and potatoes, and shanty towns that sprang up across the nation. The Depression was illustrated by the estimated 40,000 homeless who had to create makeshift accommodation in public parks and fields and by the men that went wandering—"on the track"—in search of work during this time, or even food, known as swagmen. These men, estimated to be somewhere around 30,000 in number, had to report to a police station every week, where they could claim very basic rations of food.
By 1932, more than 60,000 people depended on sustenance payments, known as "the susso", merely to survive. This was only for the truly destitute, who had been unemployed for a sustained period of time, and had no assets or savings. Relief was state-based; in South Australia, it was in the form of rations and vouchers. [2] At a time when the basic wage was £2/11/8d, "the susso" in Queensland was 3s. to 4/6d per child. "Many spend more than that on a dog", one speaker was quoted as saying. [3] Numerous campaigns took place around Australia in which community members carried out protests over inadequate levels of sustenance and the invasive and patronising treatment of recipients. In many cases these forced authorities to make improvements. [4] [5]
It was immortalised in a contemporary children’s rhyme (probably based on "You're in the Army Now", a World War I song featured in intertitles of the 1925 King Vidor silent film The Big Parade ):
Unemployment, according to the OECD, is people above a specified age not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the reference period.
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression. It was Britain's largest and most profound economic depression of the 20th century. The Great Depression originated in the United States in late 1929 and quickly spread to the world. Britain did not experience the boom that had characterized the U.S., Germany, Canada and Australia in the 1920s, so its effect appeared less severe. Britain's world trade fell by half (1929–33), the output of heavy industry fell by a third, employment profits plunged in nearly all sectors. At the depth in summer 1932, registered unemployed numbered 3.5 million, and many more had only part-time employment. However at the same time, it is important to consider that from 1929 to 1933 employment dipped only to 94.9% relative to 1929 employment metrics and recovery was seen as early at 1933. The positive trend continued across real national income and wages. New houses built increased by 33% from 1929 to 1933, while profits, prices, export volume and value, and imports volume and value dropped. Overall, while all these metrics were concerning to parliament and businessmen along with devastating industrial regions, the common person especially in areas around London did not experience major hardship and even prospered.
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a compulsory governmental insurance system, not taxes on individual citizens. Depending on the jurisdiction and the status of the person, those sums may be small, covering only basic needs, or may compensate the lost time proportionally to the previous earned salary.
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a program established by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, building on the Herbert Hoover administration's Emergency Relief and Construction Act. It was replaced in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
The worldwide Great Depression of the early 1930s was a social and economic shock that left millions of Canadians unemployed, hungry and often homeless. Few countries were affected as severely as Canada during what became known as the "Dirty Thirties," due to Canada's heavy dependence on raw material and farm exports, combined with a crippling Prairies drought known as the Dust Bowl. Widespread losses of jobs and savings ultimately transformed the country by triggering the birth of social welfare, a variety of populist political movements, and a more activist role for government in the economy.
The second MacDonald ministry was formed by Ramsay MacDonald on his reappointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George V on 5 June 1929. It was only the second time the Labour Party had formed a government; the First MacDonald Ministry held office in 1924.
Australia suffered badly during the period of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. As in other nations, Australia suffered years of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement.
In the United States, the Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and then spread worldwide. The nadir came in 1931–1933, and recovery came in 1940. The stock market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth as well as for personal advancement. Altogether, there was a general loss of confidence in the economic future.
The Great Depression in Latin America heavily affected the region in the 1930s after Depression had spread globally since the stock market crash of 1929 on Wall Street.
Throughout the industrial world, cities were hit hard during the Great Depression, beginning in 1929 and lasting through most of the 1930s. Worst hit were port cities and cities that depended on heavy industry, such as the steel and automotive industries. Service-oriented cities were hurt less severely. Political centers such as Canada, Texas, Washington, London and Berlin flourished during the Great Depression, as the expanded role of government added many new jobs.
Steward Machine Company v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548 (1937), was a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the unemployment compensation provisions of the Social Security Act of 1935, which established the federal taxing structure that was designed to induce states to adopt laws for funding and payment of unemployment compensation. The decision signaled the Court's acceptance of a broad interpretation of Congressional power to influence state laws.
Relief Camp Workers' Union was a Canadian Great Depression era relief union in which the workers employed in the Canadian government relief camps organized themselves into in the early 1930s. The RCWU was established by the Workers' Unity League and was associated with the Communist Party of Canada. The creation of the union was a direct response to the conditions of the camps and the lack of financial compensation for the work the men provided. The union is best known for helping to organize the On-to-Ottawa Trek during the Great Depression.
The Great Depression in the Netherlands occurred between 1933 and 1936, significantly later than in most other countries. It was a period of severe economic crisis in the 1930s which affected countries around the world, including the Netherlands.
Social security, in Australia, refers to a system of social welfare payments provided by Australian Government to eligible Australian citizens, permanent residents, and limited international visitors. These payments are almost always administered by Centrelink, a program of Services Australia. In Australia, most payments are means tested.
The White Paper Full Employment in Australia, published in 1945, was the defining document of the official economic policy in Australia until the 1970s. For the first time, the Australian government accepted an obligation to guarantee full employment and to intervene as necessary to implement that guarantee. The preparation of the paper was ordered by The Australian Labor Party Prime Minister John Curtin and his Employment Minister John Dedman and undertaken by a group of economists headed by H.C. Coombs.
The Great Depression (1929–1939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion began around September and led to the Wall Street stock market crash of October 24. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century.
The New Deal was a series of programs, pubIic work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. 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). They provided support for farmers, the unemployed, youth, and the elderly. The New Deal included new constraints and safeguards on the banking industry and efforts to re-inflate the economy after prices had fallen sharply. New Deal programs included both laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders during the first term of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
An economic recovery is the phase of the business cycle following a recession. The overall business outlook for an industry looks optimistic during the economic recovery phase.
The Unemployed Councils of the USA (UC) was a mass organization of the Communist Party, USA established in 1930 in an effort to organize and mobilize unemployed workers to advance party policy goals in preparation for an anticipated final conflict to overthrow capitalism.
Block is an Australian term for a small agricultural landholding. Block settlement has been used by Governments to encourage decentralization and during financial depressions to give families of unemployed workers an opportunity to become primary producers. It may also refer to a lifestyle choice or "hobby farm" for those with an independent source of income.