Youth Unemployment and Policies towards Unemployed Youth, 1918–1933

Abstract

Unemployment was a key issue for Weimar governments in terms of their policies towards youth. Youth unemployment reached high levels in 1918–19 and again in 1923–1924. A wide range of training, recreational and work schemes was discussed and adopted. The early years of the Weimar Republic saw brief but sharp bouts of unemployment. These early years of also saw a brief but sharp rise in unemployment. Few statistics on youth unemployment exist for the early Weimar years. Local authorities recorded the numbers of young unemployed claiming unemployment benefit, but such statistics covered only fourteen- to eighteen-year-olds. The world economic crisis which began to affect the German economy from 1928 brought a collapse of industrial production levels and of foreign trade, together with a crisis in government finances.