Employment and Living Standards

Reducing Unemployment: Public Works and Rearmament

The Nazi government introduced several state-controlled initiatives to create jobs and rebuild the economy. First, they established the RAD in 1933 as a voluntary scheme, which was then made compulsory in 1935. Every young man aged 18 to 25 had to serve for six months doing manual labour, such as planting trees and draining marshes. By 1935, the RAD had 422,000 members, though it was deeply unpopular because workers lived in strict military camps, performed drills, and received only 'pocket money' instead of a real wage.

Next, the regime launched massive public works projects, most notably the Autobahn network, which was heavily promoted as the 'Roads of the Führer'. Construction began in September 1933, aiming to build 7,000 miles of dual-carriageway motorways to improve infrastructure and allow rapid military movement. By 1935, 125,000 men were employed in this sector, and approximately 3,500 km of road were completed by 1938.

Finally, unemployment was heavily reduced through military expansion and rearmament. Conscription was reintroduced in 1935, causing the army to grow from 100,000 in 1933 to 1.4 million by 1939. Simultaneously, government spending on armaments skyrocketed from 3.5 billion marks to 26 billion marks, creating tens of thousands of factory jobs.

The Reality of Invisible Unemployment

The dramatic drop in jobless figures was heavily manipulated using a tactic known as invisible unemployment. The Nazi state actively removed specific groups from the official statistics to make the economy look stronger than it was.

First, following the 1933 Civil Service Law and 1935 Nuremberg Laws, Jewish people were forced out of their jobs and stripped of their citizenship, meaning they were no longer counted as unemployed. Similarly, the 1933 Law for the Encouragement of Marriage offered 1,000-mark loans to couples if the woman gave up her job. These women were reclassified as housewives, completely removing them from the unemployment registers. Interestingly, despite the state's intent to keep women at home, female employment actually increased from 4.85 million to 7.14 million by 1939 because the 1936 Four Year Plan created a severe labour shortage.

Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of men in the RAD or the armed forces were counted as 'in service' rather than unemployed, despite not holding competitive market jobs. From 1935 onwards, anyone working part-time was officially recorded as being fully employed. Thousands of political opponents and 'asocials' held in concentration camps were also conveniently left out of the statistics.

Controlling the Workforce: DAF and KdF

To regulate German workers, the state introduced the DAF in May 1933 under the leadership of Robert Ley. Through a process called Gleichschaltung, all independent trade unions were banned, and their funds were seized. While the DAF regulated wages and hours for its 32 million members by 1938, workers completely lost the right to strike or negotiate their own pay.

To compensate for the loss of trade union rights and to boost morale, the KdF was established in November 1933 as a division of the DAF. It provided state-subsidised leisure activities, and by 1938, over 10 million workers had taken KdF holidays. The scheme offered heavily discounted theatre tickets, museum visits, and even cruises on ocean liners that carried up to 1,600 passengers per trip.

The most famous KdF initiative was the Volkswagen, or 'People's Car', launched in 1937. Workers paid 5 marks a week into a stamp-book savings scheme to eventually buy their own vehicle. Although 330,000 workers signed up, the state delivered zero cars to civilians, as the factories entirely shifted to producing military vehicles in 1938.

Standard of Living: Wages, Hours, and Autarky

While there were more jobs available, the actual standard of living for many German workers did not significantly improve. Average weekly wages did rise from 86 marks in 1932 to 109 marks in 1939. However, real wages stagnated or fell because the cost of living, particularly food prices, rose by 20% over the same period.

Working conditions also became significantly more demanding. The average working week increased from 43 hours in 1933 to 49 hours by 1939, with some war-industry workers doing up to 60 hours a week. To try and improve workplace environments, the state set up the SdA in 1934. This campaign encouraged factories to upgrade lighting, ventilation, and build hot canteens. However, while 34,000 companies made improvements, the workers usually had to do the building and decorating in their own time for no extra pay.

Finally, the Nazi drive for autarky meant that civilian comfort was often sacrificed for military preparation. This 'Guns vs. Butter' policy led to severe shortages of consumer goods, meat, and fresh fruit. Citizens were forced to rely on ersatz goods, such as acorn coffee, as the nation prepared for war.