ABSTRACT

There was an unfortunate and persistent tendency to deal with unemployment only when directly confronted by the problem. The years between 1873 and 1896 subsumed the single major industrial depression prior to the 1930's. These years therefore provided Germany's sole opportunity to evolve a workable unemployment policy before the Great Depression of the twentieth century. The collectivist means for coping with work shortages which emerged around the turn of the century included labor exchanges, refuges for both itinerant and non-mobile unemployed, public works projects and assorted insurance schemes. Evidence indicates that the personal decision-making process was at least as important as collective policy-making in affecting unemployment between 1873 and 1913. The moderate approach and efforts to work within the system through mechanisms such as insurance, labor exchanges or public works projects were tailored to meet the needs of limited unemployment which Germany experienced prior to World War I.