Economy of California During World War II - Essay Example

?Economy of California During World War II Introduction One of the major events for the nation of America during the period of 20th century was the entry to regions of the Pacific Coast as a major area for economic development. During the period of 1900 and 1980 the total percentage of population of the Western States of America increased almost five times from 3.2% of total population to 15.5% of total population. The growth rate of personal income earned by the population of the Far Western regions even tripled from 5.3% to 17.4%. By the period of 1980 the areas located in the urban centers of Pacific Coast gained recognition as being important for technological advancements. Historians believe that the major developments and economic growth achieved by these regions especially by California was due to their experience of the World War II. According to Gerald Nash, a famous historian, the economic development of the Western regions was increasing and the economic development of states located in the Pacific regions started increasing during the period of war (Chan and Spencer, 1997, p.308). He further stated that the regions of the Pacific areas that were experiencing stagnant and slow increase in economic development started enjoying increased pace of economic development. There are very few criticizers who claim that West did not experience economic growth and expansion during the era of the ending period of 1940s. Mostly historians support the idea that West developed by a great deal during that era. During this period a large number of people started moving towards west in order to gain employment in the field of aircraft and ship manufacturing. The military institutes located in this region were home to several soldiers and shipmen who were engaged in the war. During a period of only five years from 1940 to 1945 the total population of the area increased by 25%. The main reason due to which the area was gaining tremendous amount of growth was that they were spending very heavily on military purposes. Rhode believes that the major reason due to which the airplane industry of the region of California flourished was that they were assigned various contracts from the defense sector before the war actually started (Chan and Spencer, 1997, p.308). Nash stated that due to the war major changes were experienced by the West, in the areas of population, relations and economy and this period altered the West from an underdeveloped region to a developed one (Chan and Spencer, 1997, p.308). During the same 5 years period the Far Western regions of America obtained billions of dollars in the shape of funding for war purposes. During 1943 when the expenditure ion military purposes reached its peak, policy makers started fearing that after the war huge number of job; losses will take place in the region of West. According to policy makers of California, a total of 1 million jobs were to be lost out of a total workforce of 4 million within a year after the end of war. Due to this policy makers started to make plans in order to help those who were expected to lose their jobs after the war. Many changes did not take place and expectations made by the policy makers did not come out to be true as heavy amount of job losses did not occur nor did many migrant workers not leave the Western regions. Economic development started taking place as a huge number manufacturing organizations started to operate on national level and operations started to expand. Those who were employed in military related jobs started filling civilian jobs. During the period, fields such as schooling, housing the service sector were not given much importance, but after the war these developments started taking place and this led to increase in number of jobs in the areas of construction and other services. This paper will discuss that West and especially California experienced economic growth during and after the World War II. Body War and Economy Undoubtedly the engagement of US in World War II led to the nation experiencing a boom in economy, during the period of 1940 and 1945, the government spends heavily on military contracts and facilities for industries and military. California alone was funded with $19.7 million which accounts for 1/3 of the total expenditure during war time. Most of the expenditure was done on the air defense side and the sea defense side which proved to be fruitful during the era of Pearl Harbor. The rate of employment in non-agricultural sectors increased during the period from 1940 to 1944 elevated by 61%. California was the one who experienced the highest rate of employment and experienced ample amount of creation of jobs in manufacturing sector. Other sectors even experienced growth in rate of employment but at a lesser pace and quantity, only the mining sector experienced decline in jobs by 26%. The manufacturing sector was able to hire one million employees which mean that it added 377 thousand more workers after the period of 1939 to 1940 and the number further increased to 1,615 by 1944. Increase in the number of employees employed in manufacturing sector was caused due to increase in demand for ships and airplanes by the military section. During the sessions of war, the number of airplanes created by the Pacific Coast contributed to 38% of the total number of airplanes produced within the entire nation and 44% of ships owned by the government. Before the war the total employed individuals in shipyards was only 7000 and the number increased to 515 thousand employees during 1943. Similar kind of increase in the number of employees was experienced by ship manufacturing plants, the number of employees by the end of 1939 was only 25 thousand and it increased by more than 1260% by the end of 1943. The employees even started benefiting from this increase in demand of their labor and the region experienced increase in wages as compared to wages of the entire nation. For example: during the period before the war California was paying $114.9% more than the entire nation and during war session this percentage increased to 120.7%. Increase in job opportunities led to major decline in unemployment rate and this led to increase in participation of the employees and one of the major contributors ere the women of that time period. Before the war the unemployment rate within these regions was very high and was within double digits and by 1944 the rate fell to lower than one percent. California alone which was experiencing unemployment rate at 15.2 percent during the first month of 1940 experienced decline of unemployment rate to 8.1% by the last month of 1941and by 1943’s month of October, this ate further declined to 0.3%. This means that the total working population of California at that time was 3908 workers and only 0.3% of the working population did not have jobs. This increase in demand for labor made employers of the west located different sources of labors, those who migrated from Dust Bowl during the period of 1930s started gaining employment, individuals such as students, retried individuals and women who worked in their own houses were even encouraged and made part of the labor force. The department that provides statistics of employment stated that during the period of April of 1940 the total employable individuals totaled to 4,268 thousand individuals and this increased by 1,591 thousand employable individuals during 1945. Towards the end of the war, it was realized that the number of people within Pacific Coast had increased and concerns increased about the employment of all these people after the war comes to an end. Expectations of the Policy Makers Businesses, employees and the politicians all became concerned about the large population and the jobs that might be lost as the war would come to an end, they expected two outcomes of the end of the war, first the population will move away from the area and second they will stay and will become a burden on the government and the treasury. Another problem was that expenditure was mainly focused towards war industries and little attention as paid to civilian industries and markets and as the military industries will close, so will the unemployment rate increase and the other regions of America would start attracting the labor force. Measures and plans were put into operation way before the end of the war to counter the concerns of the end of the war. Surveys and researches were being conducted to identify the population that plan to leave the West and those who plan to stay. The situation was expected to become worse as not only those who have migrated before the war planned to stay, even those who were from other regions planned to transfer to California and huge number of jobs will be lost and the unemployment rate will become higher as there were little resources to provide employment. Since the increase in number of workers was experienced by California, it was expected that when the war will come to an end, about 25% of the work force will be unemployed. Situation after War The adjustment of the large population of the immigrants of Pacific Coast was much simpler than expected by different entities. The level of employment was regained very easily even though the region faced decrease in manufacturing jobs by 45%. As soon as the war ended the number of people employed was equal to the number of people employed before the war. The process of adjusting those who lost their jobs after the war actually began before the war was over as the jobs created due to war started declining during 1943 and 1944. The western region experienced that a total of 300 through employees were unemployed due to the end of the war. 1/3 of those who lost their jobs were those who worked in the shipping arena and 25% of the unemployed workforce was those who were working in the aircraft arena. After a small passage of time, 100 thousand workers further lost their jobs and again those people lost jobs who were working in war industries. Towards the last month of 1945, the total number of unemployed individuals working within the aircraft and ship manufacturing business were 470 thousand, this means that a total of only 280 thousand workers were now working in these industries as compared to last year. The rate of unemployment even increased in California and entered the double digit figure for the first time after five years, since 1941. The increase in rate of employment and loss of jobs stopped increasing after 1946 and later the rate started declining and entered the single digits of 5 to 8 percent and continued that way until the recessionary shock of 1949 and 1950. One of the major reasons that contributed to the less than expected increase in unemployment rate was that the expected influx of veterans from other states was less than expected by the analyst of war time. According to a population survey conducted in 1947, the rate of veterans living in the Pacific Coast only increased by 80,000. Within two years period, from 1945 to 1947, the total number of civilians living in Pacific Coast only increased by 1851 thousand individuals. The rate of employment in non agricultural sectors decreased to 290 thousand workers and this decline was majorly associated with the number of students, retired individuals and women’s working in house withdrawing from labor market voluntarily. Conclusion Before the World War II took place the economy of Pacific Coastal regions specifically California was experiencing double digits of unemployment rate, during the war a huge number of people shifted to California in search of employment and they gained employment in military related industry, especially aircraft and warship manufacturing industries. By the end of the war, policy makers became concerned about the huge influx of migrants and expected that more population would shift to California which would lead to higher rate of unemployment and higher dependency on government funds. But such was not the case as unemployment rate did not cross single digits for several years and the incoming migrants in masses did not leave California. Reference List Chan, Sucheng, and Spencer C. Olin. 1997. Major problems in California history: documents and essays. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Read More