The Economy in 1941-1950

By ToenailJar
  • Women have started to work

    Women have started to work

    Because of the U.S.' increase in need for supplies, women had started working in factories as opposed to just men.
  • Unemployment rate 9.9%

    Unemployment rate 9.9%

    While not being a fantastic rate for unemployment, the U.S. had just gotten out of the Great Depression, meaning that this was actually a very large increase.
  • Period: to

    The economy from 1941-1950

  • More Women Working

    More Women Working

    The U.S. began to put up posters asking women to work, increasing the number of women in the workforce even more

  • Unemployment rate 4.7%

    A significant decrease from the year before, the U.S. was moving in the right direction in terms of creating jobs.
  • U.S. Increases Production

    U.S. Increases Production

    The U.S. had started to increase production of airlines in particular, creating even more jobs.

  • Unemployment rate 1.9%

    Another large decrease, and one of the lowest in U.S. history.

  • U.S. becomes largest producer

    In 1944 the U.S. became the largest producer in the world, over 5x that of Japan.

  • Unemployment rate 1.2%

    The lowest unemployment rate in U.S. history since it had started being recorded. 1.2% means that only 166000 people were unemployed.

  • WW2 ends

    This put an end to lots of production, meaning many jobs were lost

  • Unemployment rate 1.9%

    A slight increase from the year prior yet still very low, this is the lowest unemployment rate since then.

  • Employment Act Passed

    The Employment Act ensured that any American able to work and seeking work had the right to a full-time job.

  • Unemployment rate 3.9%

    A significant increase from the year prior, this is the highest the unemployment rate had been in 4 years.

  • Inflation increase of 18%

    The highest inflation has ever affected the dollar since

  • Cold War begins

    The beginning of the Cold War caused the U.S. to create more production jobs, not quite as much as in WW2 however.

  • Unemployment rate 3.6%

  • Marshall Plan negotiated

    The Marshall Plan was a plan to provide relief to Europe from the U.S. costing 15 billion dollars.

  • Unemployment rate 4%

  • Truman Re-elected

    President Harry S. Truman was re-elected for his second term in office.

  • NATO formed

    NATO was an alliance between all North Atlantic countries, including the U.S.

  • Unemployment rate 6.6%

    A significant increase from the year before, this was the highest the unemployment rate would be for over a decade.

  • Korean War Begins

    The beginning of the Korean War began to create more jobs in the U.S.

  • Minimum Wage increased to $0.75

    In modern money, $0.75 is $8.31, higher than today's minimum wage.

  • Unemployment rate 4.3%

    The start of the Korean War saw the creation of much more jobs.