The Great Depression had severe effects worldwide during the decade preceding World War II. Starting with a drastic stock market crash in the United States, the Great Depression spread to nearly every other country in the world. Economies did not recover completely until the late 1930s or the early 1940s.

On this day, November 8th, in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt introduces the Civil Works Administration as part of the New Deal. The work program created about 4 million American jobs.

The Civil Works Administration created manual labor jobs for out of work Americans. Roosevelt believed that providing jobs, even though they were only temporary, would be better for people than giving cash handouts. These jobs primarily were aimed at improving or building bridges and buildings. The program ended on March 31, 1934.