Employment and living standards

Increasing employment

• Began programme of public works including building hospitals, schools, etc.This created work for 80,000 men

• Rearmament started as soon as Hitler came to power and created millions of jobs

• National Labour Service = all young men spent 6 months in the service and were then conscripted

Invisible unemployment

• Germany claimed to have full employment by 1939 but many groups were left out of final stats

• 1.4 million men in army

• Jews who were sacked

• Women who had to give their jobs to men

Autarky

• A country, state, or society which is economically independent

• Hoped certain materials like rubber could be made synthetically instead of imported

• 1937 = Hermann Goring made economic minister and given job of making Germany self-sufficient in 4 years

• Introduced tighter controls on imports and subsidies for farmers to produce food

• These were unsuccessful

• 1939 = still importing 20% of food and 33% of raw materials

Standard of living

• Big businesses = Nazis promised to tackle monopolies. By 1937 monopolies controlled 70% of production. Profits rose by 50% between 1933 and 1939

• Small business = rules tightened meaning 20% closed

• Farmers = hereditary farm law of 1933 prevented farms being repossessed. By 1937 prices increased by 20% and wages rose quicker than others.

Industrial workers

• The Labour front = replaced trades unions. Set wages and followed employers not employees

• Strength through Joy = gave workers rewards for work e.g. Classes, theatre trips, picnics and cheap or free holidays

• Beauty of Labour = to help Germans see that work was good. Encouraged factory owners to improve conditions