By the time President Roosevelt gave his inaugural address in March 1933, America was already in its fifth year of the Great Depression. This national tragedy left more than one in five working age people unemployed. Industrial production in the US declined by almost half. And real GDP fell by almost a third.Contrast the US's experience between 1929 and 1940 to that of the Eurozone since the onset of the financial crisis and Europe looks good by comparison. Europe's real GDP declined only 5% peak-to-trough and unemployment peaked at 12%.
Those figures, however, cover a multitude of sins.
Greece has seen real GDP decline by 25% between the last quarter of 2007 and the last quarter of 2013, while youth unemployment in Italy and Portugal is still at shocking levels of 44% and 35% respectively.
In both cases the crisis exacted a heavy toll on society with some of the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest hit. And in both opportunities to act decisively to address problems early were passed up and problems were allowed to fester.
-Unemployment during the Great Depression hit a staggering 25.2% in the US whereas Eurozone unemployment peaked at only 12.2%, but ...-- ... That figure disguises the fact that some countries were hit worse than the US in the '30s, like Greece (27%) and Spain (24.4%).--This iconic photo of unemployed men queuing outside a soup kitchen has come to represent the hardships of the Great Depression in the US ....-
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