It goes without saying that not all experiences of the Depression were the same. The 1930s are generally seen as a time of great suffering and poverty. Indeed, an overview of the era in economic terms shows a period of relative prosperity and this is especially true when compared to other nations such as the United States and Germany, which for a time suffered from much greater problems than Britain. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first image that comes to mind for most people when they think of the Depression is the Jarrow Marches. Jarrow is a useful case study. The town, now in County Tyne and Wear, was predominantly a shipping area before 1929. The Wall Street crash caused a ripple effect across the world and eventually hit Jarrow. In her book "The Town That Was Murdered" Ellen Wilkinson tells about one of the major shipyards Palmer's and its closure. She advances the idea that it was "financial weakness, not technical inefficiency" that caused Palmer's to close. The closure caused 8000 layoffs! This northern area suffered from enormous poverty, which prompted the march. It was a demand that the government do something. The North wasn't the only place to see social problems develop in the wake of the Depression. In London, unemployed Welshmen could be seen on the streets entertaining Londoners to make ends meet. Overall there has been a marked increase in begging and crime levels in major cities. Unemployed men were often employed for a long time. This caused a different problem. Many companies, even in the recovery phase, would ideally not want to hire a man who has been unemployed for more than a year. Men are likely to be less efficient as they will not be updated with the latest techniques. Although unemployment was a major headache for the government, there were many significant improvements in the nation's quality of life. In the South there had been an influx of new industries, such as the introduction of the wireless network (the BBC was created in 1922). The practice of mass production had also reached across the Atlantic and car production was growing rapidly (it was the best in Europe). There has also been an increase in the electrical engineering market, aided by the formation of the National Grid. In terms of Britain's social life, the cinema was a new and popular attraction (in Liverpool it was so cheap that even the unemployed could afford to go!) and theaters saw a revival in ticket sales. New buildings were being built and they weren't limited to the south, a 4000 seat theater was built in Glasgow! Overall there was an improvement in the health of the nation. However, in some areas infant mortality was low, such as in Oldham where 10% of children died before the age of three. Rowntree also calculated that 70% of unemployed families were below the poverty line and this led to malnutrition. The north had been crippled by the collapse of basic industries, but the introduction of new industries in the south made the overall economic picture quite positive. . Gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaged an impressive 2.1%. Unemployment was the main Achilles' heel. In 1932 the unemployment level was 22%! Because most people had worked in one industry their entire lives, their skills were useless to other companies, making reemployment even more difficult, especially for older members of the workforce. There were many signs of well-being, especially at.