Study title

The essay focuses on the economic context of unemployment, analyzed in the framework of three questions: 1) How does unemployment develop over time? 2) Who was particularly affected by unemployment? Were there any notable differences between social groups, sectors, gender, and region? 3) What causes can be named for the high unemployment rate at this time? A reliable unemployment statistics, structured by sector, region, and gender, does only exist till 1928. Since 1928, the newly established Imperial Institute for Employment and Unemployment Insurance (=Reichanstalt für Arbeitsvermittlung und Arbeitslosenversicherung) carried out uniform surveys in regular intervals using comparable criteria. In the time before, there were mainly two detection methods in use: On the one hand the reports of done work of communities and the private sector were used as sources. On the other hand, since 1903, the labour unions’ unemployment statistics, gathered the unemployed union members. Datatables in HISTAT (Topic: Employment (= Erwerbstätigkeit)): 01. Arbeitslose in Prozent der erfassten Gewerkschaftsmitglieder (1907-1931) (= Unemployed in percent of the gathered union members) 02. Arbeitslosigkeit in ausgewählten Ländern (1919-1938) (= Unemployed in selected countries) 03. Arbeitslose in Prozent der Erwerbspersonen (1931-1936) (= Untemployed in percent of the labour force) 04. Arbeitslose je 1.000 Einwohner in deutschen Großstädten (1928-1936) (= Unemployed per 1.000 inhabitants of German cities) 05. Vollerwerbslose insgesamt und arbeitslose Angestellte (1921-1932) (= Unemployed in total and unemployed clerical worker)