This was Ruben≥

It is 1939, the prime minister (Neville chamberlain) would

like you to report on him and his national government on the situation in Wales

Was the depression wholly negative?

The depression consisted of a series of problems that affected people worldwide and severely
affected the economy and the citizens. The depression caused mass emigration; Wales lost 390,000
people between 1925 and 1939, and its population did not regain its 1925 level until 1973. Low-
income households were consequent to poor health and substandard housing, thus proving it to be
a negative occurrence. The depression was caused by a multitude of factors, including rising costs in
production, obsolete methods and a failure to invest in new technology and machinery contributed
to the decline in the traditional industries. There was a sharp fall in demand for British goods and
increased competition from abroad, particularly from the USA and Germany.

In 1913, Wales had 485 coal mines, employing over 250,000 miners and producing 57 million
tonnes of coal. By 1934 the South Wales coalfields employed only 126,000 men and
produced 35 million tons of coal. Through most of the 1930’s, South Wales was an
unemployment ‘black spot’ with unemployment at over 40%. The region was officially
declared a ‘depressed area’. The closure of the iron and steel works in the Merthyr area
caused further unemployment and hardship. This further proves that the depression was
negative as it faced the most amount of unemployment from the decline in the staple
industries due to its heavy reliance. There was mass unemployment in South Wales because
of the great drop in demand for British coal and steel. This was also the case in the
traditional textile producing area around Manchester. The cotton factories of Manchester,
which before 1914 had supplied 65% of the world’s market, saw their share drop to 28% by
1938. The number of people employed in the industry fell from 621,500 in 1911 to 393,000
in 1938. As world trade declined, too many shipyards were competing for the limited
amount of work available.

Wales had been hit by large levels of depression since the early 1920s, which led to a lack of
job availability, this resulted in half a million people leaving Wales. By the 1930s Rhondda
had lost 13% of its population due to the lack of employment availability to cities like
Liverpool and the Midlands. Welsh culture suffered due to subsequent low levels of
employment and depopulation; the Welsh language was specifically impacted by these
factors.
However, Special Areas Act of 1934 saw businesses moved to deprived areas with low levels
of employment, like Treforest. Despite the payment companies were offered to go to these
areas, not all companies agreed to go and therefore means the act, as a whole, was not
massively effective. It did encourage employment in the suffering areas and therefore was
good for the citizens of the areas as offered work opportunities to those most in need.

Mr Prime minister to conclude my report I have that the depression is wholly negative for
Wales as it damaged Welsh industry and negatively impacted many people especially those
in poverty.