References often have been made to similarities between the Great Depression and the recession that began in December 2007. Both were preceded by long periods of economic expansion during which consumers financed many of their purchases by taking on considerable debt. The substantial losses in savings that resulted from the bank failures of the 1930s made it all the more difficult for individual and commercial depositors to continue spending and investing to the degree they had previously. Today, credit also has become difficult for individuals and businesses to obtain—not because of bank failures, given the availability of federal deposit insurance, but rather because risky investments have led to deteriorated balance sheets at some banks and other financial institutions that have impaired their ability to extend credit. Comparisons between the Great Depression and the eleventh recession of the post-World War II period have extended beyond conditions in the financial market to conditions in the labor market. Speculation that the unemployment rate could reach double digits in the coming months appears to have fueled the analogy. Little if any comparative research has been undertaken, however. This report analyzes the labor market experiences of workers during the 1930s, which encompassed the almost five years of the Great Depression. Because it was a period very distant and different from today, considerable time is devoted to examining the employment and unemployment measures available at that time. The report ends by comparing the labor market conditions of the 1930s with those encountered by workers thus far during the recession that began in December 2007. Analysis of labor market conditions during the Great Depression is complicated by the fact that "throughout the worst years of the Depression, no one knew how many unemployed persons there were, much less their characteristics," because not until March 1940 did the federal government initiate a monthly survey of the labor force defined much as it is today. In 1937, the 75 th Congress passed Pub. Law No. 409, which required the President to conduct a census of unemployment. At least one of the 14-question Unemployment Report Cards was delivered by postal carriers to each dwelling in the United States and additional cards were made available at local post offices to the "employable unemployed." But, the 1940 census of the population was the first statistical undertaking to include questions on the labor force defined as persons who are employed or without jobs but actively seeking work within a prescribed period of time. Before then, the 1930 census of the population, the 1937 census of unemployment, and the occasional survey conducted in various states and cities utilized a very different concept—the "gainful worker"—that is, individuals who had at some time worked in an occupation in which they earned money or the equivalent, or in which they assisted in the production of marketable goods. Different occupational classification systems also were utilized in the 1930 and 1940 population censuses. For these reasons, this section of the report relies greatly on the U.S. Census Bureau's adjustment of selected data from the 1930 census to make it as consistent as possible with the 1940 census. The Appendix discusses the evolution of labor force data over time. It is intended to supplement information in the detailed table notes in the body of the report about the specific Depression-era data presented in the tables. What commonly is referred to as the Great Depression comprised two downturns in the business cycle. The first recession began in August 1929, and lasted 43 months until March 1933. A sluggish comeback of the economy occurred during the next four years, before the business cycle peaked in May 1937. The subsequent 13-month decline in the economy's performance ended in June 1938, but employment did not fully recover until the United States entered World War II. The percentage of the working-age population employed fell substantially between 1930 and 1940, as shown in Table 1 . Virtually all of the decrease occurred among men, with the proportion of the male population with jobs dropping 10 percentage points to 67.5%. Men continued to dominate the ranks of the employed during the 1930s despite the Great Depression's very different impact by gender. The number of men employed fell by 898,000 over the decade, while the number of women employed rose by almost 1.3 million. Women's share of employed persons consequently grew to one-fourth by 1940. Employers' hiring decisions partly account for the differential employment effect of the Great Depression by age group. The substantial decrease in employment among teenagers (14- to 19-year-olds) likely was associated with the last-hired/first-fired approach that employers traditionally observe. Additionally, with passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938, the age limit for employment in manufacturing industries was raised to 16 years, which effectively reduced the number of job opportunities for young persons. This, in turn, might have prompted some teenagers to refrain from entering the workforce and instead, remain voluntarily in school after reaching age 14. School attendance requirements were increased over the decade in some geographic areas as well. The order in which employers usually conduct layoffs varies inversely with seniority, which would be expected to benefit older workers. But, length of service is of no help to older workers if entire plants are closed and all employees are let go. Once laid off, older workers found it particularly difficult to find new jobs. Because age discrimination was not unlawful at the time, employers could refuse with impunity to hire older workers if they generalized that younger workers were more adaptable and possessed more up-to-date skills, for example. "During the 1930s many firms adopted a policy of not hiring anyone over some stated maximum age, the limit being placed sometimes as low as 45 years or even lower." The varying impact of technological developments by occupation also helps to explain the differing pattern of job loss across gender and age groups. Increased mechanization and the advent of the assembly line permitted substitution of semiskilled workers for skilled workers, which operated to the advantage of women and younger men compared to older men. As shown in Table 2 , the proportion of workers in skilled occupations fell from 12.9% to 11.7% between 1930 and 1940, with the entire decrease occurring among men. Older men in particular were displaced by mechanization because skilled workers more often were age 45 and older. In contrast, few women worked in skilled occupations (0.8% in 1930) while many more worked in the growing semiskilled occupations (23.7% in 1930). In part because mechanization also could substitute for physical strength, the demand for unskilled workers fell as well. This, too, adversely affected men to a greater extent than women because men more often were unskilled farm and nonfarm (construction and factory) laborers whose jobs could be replaced by machinery. (See Table 2 .) Black men in particular were susceptible to the shift in demand away from unskilled jobs because the occupations of farm and nonfarm laborers accounted for 43% of employed black men compared to 17% of employed white men. In contrast, unskilled women primarily were servants whose jobs could not as readily be supplanted by machinery. Women also fared better than men during the Depression due to the increased demand for workers in white-collar occupations (e.g., professional and clerical workers). Growth in white-collar occupations was especially pronounced among clerical and related workers, which, as seen in Table 2 , was the single largest employment category for women. In contrast, men's concentration in the farm operator category meant that they suffered most directly the consequences of the shift from an agrarian to an industrial economy. Black men were especially vulnerable: farm owners and tenants accounted for 21% of black men's employment in 1940 compared to 14% of white men's employment. No industry except government was immune from the Great Depression. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' annual count of jobs on the payrolls of nonfarm employers, employment dropped by 7.6 million or 24.3% between 1929 and 1933. Almost three out of every five jobs lost were from the goods-producing sector, where employment fell by one-third from 13.3 million to less than 9 million. (See Table 3 .) Within the goods-producing sector, construction and manufacturing workers were the hardest hit: by 1933, there were 45.5% fewer construction jobs and 30.9% fewer manufacturing jobs than in 1929. In absolute terms, manufacturing accounted for over three-fourths of all job losses in the sector. Manufacturers of durable goods bore much of the decrease, with motor vehicle and equipment firms providing 45.5% fewer factory jobs in 1933 than in 1929 for example. During the 1937-1938 downturn, job losses were even more concentrated in the goods-producing sector. Over three-fourths of the almost 2 million jobs lost in that year were in mining, construction and manufacturing industries. Manufacturing accounted for almost nine out of ten (1.4 out of 1.5 million) job losses in the sector. The milder second downturn produced relatively fewer job cutbacks than the first downturn at manufacturers (12.5%) and construction firms (5.1%). Companies in the service-producing sector also felt the Depression's influence as laid off workers became unable to afford their former level of purchases at such establishments as grocers and clothing stores. Employment in the service-producing sector declined by 3.3 million jobs or 18.2% during the 1929-1933 downturn. Job losses in the sector numbered 282,000 or 1.6% during the second downturn of the decade. Agricultural employment fell as well during the 1930s. Droughts and dust storms led farm families to migrate from such states as Oklahoma and Arkansas, and the introduction of technological innovations (e.g., tractors, combines, mechanical cotton and corn pickers) displaced sharecropper families. The number of persons working in agriculture was estimated to have been about 10.5 million in 1929. Farm employment decreased steadily to about 10.0 million by 1933. It remained largely unchanged through 1937, after which the decline in farm employment resumed.