The Work Ethic in the 1930s

Between 1921 and 1939 there were never less than one million registered unemployed in Great Britain. The dark shadow of mass unemployment was present on an unprecedented scale. Indeed, from 1931 to 1935, the unemployment total never fell below two million and, at its highest point in the winter of 1932-3, it almost topped three million. These grim statistics provide the sombre backcloth against which attitudes towards the 'work ethic' in the 1930s must be assessed.