Section C: employment and living standards 

Nazi policies to reduce unemployment 

1. In 1933, the Labour Service (RAD) was set up to provide work for the unemployed.  

2. They repaired roads, planted trees, and drained marshes but also did military parades and drill in uniform.  

3. Pay was low but the RAD was compulsory by 1935, with 422,000 members. 

4. Another measure were public works schemes: building autobahns (motorways), bridges and other buildings. By 1935, 125,000 workers were building autobahns and, by 1938 3,500 of the planned 7000 km had been completed, speeding up communications and boosting the construction industry. 

5. Hitler reintroduced military conscription, and by 1939 there were 1.36 million men in the armed forces, including 900,000 in the army. 

6. Spending on the armaments (weapons) industry rose from 3.5 billion marks in 1933 to 26 billion by 1939, creating jobs in factories and distribution.   

7. By 1935, 72,000 worked in aircraft construction alone, compared to 4,000 two years earlier. 

8. Unemployment was reduced artificially by ‘invisible unemployment’. This meant categories such as women, Jewish people, those in concentration camps and those in the Labour Service were not counted as unemployed, while part-time work was counted as full time. These measures took 1.5 million out of the unemployment figures. 

Success of Nazi policies to reduce unemployment 

1. Unemployment fell from over 5 million in 1933 to 302,000 by 1939. 

2. Unemployment was falling everywhere in the 1930s as the world recovered from the Great Depression, although it did more fall sharply in Germany. 

3. The figures were manipulated with the ‘invisible’ unemployed being excluded from the figures. 

4. Many jobs were artificially created by (like the expansion of the army) and often involved very high levels of government spending that could not be maintained in the long term. 

Changes in the standard of living 

1. Standard of living measures whether people’s lives are getting worse; it is largely but not wholly an economic measure. 

2. Increased employment rates meant more workers enjoyed better and regular incomes, but this did not benefit minority groups. 

3. Work in the Labour Service was often harsh and poorly paid. 

4. Wages rose by 20% from 1933-39 but the price of food rose by the same level (this is often described as ‘real wages’ not rising).  

5. Some workers, such as skilled workers in the armaments industry, had higher wage rises and could afford more luxury goods.  

6. Car ownership trebled in the 1930s, although from a relatively low base, while the sale of goods in the shops increased by 45% from 1933-39. 

7. The average working week also went up from 43 hours in 1933 to 49 hours in 1939. 

Nazi organisations focused on standard of living 

The Labour Front:  

1. The DAF (Deutsche Arbeitsfront) replaced the trade unions, which the Nazis had banned. 

2. The DAF had the task of protecting the rights of workers in the workplace, ensuring minimum levels of pay and the maximum length of the working week. 

3. However, workers lost their right to negotiate pay and conditions with their employers. 

4. The maximum working week went up by six hours between 1933-39  

5. The DAF would punish workers who disrupted production. 

6. Fundamentally, the DAF was a way for the state to control employers and employees and was not run for the best interests of workers or business owners.   

Strength Through Joy: 

1. The Kraft durch Freude (KDF) was a division of the DAF intended to offer rewards to workers to make work more enjoyable and, therefore more productive. 

2. Thousands of sporting events, films, theatre performances and even foreign holidays were provided as an incentive to workers. 

3. By 1936, 35 million workers, the vast majority, had joined the KDF to benefit from these activities. 

4. The KDF set up another scheme to provide affordable family cars for workers. Ferdinand Porsche designed the ‘Volkswagen’ (People’s car) which around 400,000 workers contributed 5 Marks a week to have theirs cars built. 

5. However, although the money allowed the factories to be set up, in 1938 these factories were switched to producing armaments instead, meaning only a handful of cars were produced. 

Beauty of Labour (SDA): 

1. This was a separate division of the KDF which provided better working facilities for workers: better toilets, changing rooms and showers. 

2. By 1938, the Nazi Party claimed 34,000 companies had improved their facilities, taking advantage of tax breaks to help with building and decorating costs. 

3. However, many workers ended up doing the work themselves for no extra pay, and employers even threatened those who did not volunteer with dismissal.