ABSTRACT
The first half of the 1930s saw unemployment consistently above 2 million and it peaked in the winter of 1932-3 at 3 million, or about one quarter of the insured working population of Britain. As the decade went on, however, world trade started to recover and Britain’s economy started showing signs of modest growth. The heavy industries, including steelmaking, shipbuilding and coalmining, all started to revive, although in the late 1930s their output remained below the levels achieved before 1914. Manufacturing also moved forward in the latter years of the decade, especially in newer industries such as electricity supply. By 1939 two thirds of all homes had mains electricity, compared with one third in 1930. Cars and other motor vehicles also became more commonplace during this decade, and increasing numbers of families could realistically aspire to owning them as prices fell significantly. The wider engineering industry also expanded as increasing numbers of consumer durables came onto the market. The second half of the decade, in strong contrast to the first half, was a period of growing economic prosperity, with an increasing proportion of the population being able to consume more as well as to produce more. Retailing expanded, partly aided by improved transport and, arguably, the increasing branding and promotion of goods by manufacturers. The media, especially the press and cinema, provided opportunities for the advertising of all types of new consumer goods, fuelled by the rapid expansion of hire purchase schemes for the more expensive products. Unemployment began to decline, as indicated above, from 1933 onwards. The living standards of those in work rose sharply. However, life for those in the depressed regions of the country remained relatively unchanged, and their plight was brought into even sharper focus by the very obvious affluence in the Southeast and the Midlands, which were rapidly becoming the new industrial hub of the country.
