Changes

FERA's main goal was alleviating household unemployment by creating new unskilled jobs in local and state government.  FERA gave the money but the states and localities operated the program, selected the projects, and hired and paid the workers. Jobs were more expensive than direct cash payments (called "the dole"), but were psychologically more beneficial to the unemployed, who wanted any sort of job because a job gave for self-esteem and allowed them to play the role of male breadwinner in the family. From May 1933 until it closed in December, 1935, FERA gave states and localities $3.1 billion.  FERA provided work for families that included over 20 million people. It built many public facilities --like sidewalks and sewers--across the country.  

FERA's main goal was alleviating household unemployment by creating new unskilled jobs in local and state government.  FERA gave the money but the states and localities operated the program, selected the projects, and hired and paid the workers. Jobs were more expensive than direct cash payments (called "the dole"), but were psychologically more beneficial to the unemployed, who wanted any sort of job because a job gave for self-esteem and allowed them to play the role of male breadwinner in the family. From May 1933 until it closed in December, 1935, FERA gave states and localities $3.1 billion.  FERA provided work for families that included over 20 million people. It built many public facilities --like sidewalks and sewers--across the country.  

Faced with continued high unemployment and concerns for public welfare during the coming winter of 1933-34, FERA instituted the [[Civil Works Administration]] (CWA) as a $400 million short-term measure to get people to work. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration was terminated in 1935 and its work taken over by two entirely new federal agencies, the [[WPA]] and the [[[Social Security]].

Faced with continued high unemployment and concerns for public welfare during the coming winter of 1933-34, FERA instituted the [[Civil Works Administration]] (CWA) as a $400 million short-term measure to get people to work. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration was terminated in 1935 and its work taken over by two entirely new federal agencies, the [[WPA]] and the [[Social Security]].

==Projects==

==Projects==

FERA operated a wide variety of work relief projects, including included construction, projects for professionals (e.g., writers, artists, actors, and musicians), and production of consumer goods. The construction and professional projects elicited criticisms of "make-work," i.e., that little of value was produced. In contrast, the output of the consumer goods production projects was clearly useful, as canned food, garments, mattresses, bedding, and other goods were produced and then distributed to relief recipients. But these projects, termed production-for-use by FERA administrators, came under fire from capitalists for competing with the private sector. As a result, production-for-use projects that capitalists found offensive were terminated by the time the WPA began in late 1935, and no such government production of consumer goods has been repeated since.<ref>Nancy E. Rose, "Production-for-use or Production-for-profit?: the Contradictions of Consumer Goods Production in 1930s Work Relief." ''Review of Radical Political Economics'' 1988 20(1): 46-61. Issn: 0486-6134  </ref>

FERA operated a wide variety of work relief projects, including included construction, projects for professionals (e.g., writers, artists, actors, and musicians), and production of consumer goods. The construction and professional projects elicited criticisms of "make-work," i.e., that little of value was produced. In contrast, the output of the consumer goods production projects was clearly useful, as canned food, garments, mattresses, bedding, and other goods were produced and then distributed to relief recipients. But these projects, termed production-for-use by FERA administrators, came under fire from capitalists for competing with the private sector. As a result, production-for-use projects that capitalists found offensive were terminated by the time the WPA began in late 1935, and no such government production of consumer goods has been repeated since.<ref>Nancy E. Rose, "Production-for-use or Production-for-profit?: the Contradictions of Consumer Goods Production in 1930s Work Relief." ''Review of Radical Political Economics'' 1988 20(1): 46-61. Issn: 0486-6134  </ref>

===Workers' education===

===Workers' education===

Workers' education, a form of adult education, emphasized the study of economic and social problems from the workers' perspective. When the FERA created its adult education program in 1933, workers' education classes were included. Between 1933 and 1943 thirty-six states participated in the federal experiment in workers' education, 17 of them for a full ten years the program existed. With as many as two thousand teachers employed at one time, officials conservatively estimated that the program reached at least one million workers nation-wide until it was ended in World War II.  Three distinct phases of a federal workers' education program existed: FERA (1933-1935), Works Progress Administration (WPA--prior to separation from the other adult education programs, 1935-1939), and WPA Workers' Service Program (1939-1943). FERA and WPA workers' education stimulated educational activities within the labor movement. For example, in Indiana this program was particularly popular among the new, more radical [[CIO]] unions. Federal workers' education activities also encouraged union-university cooperation and laid the foundation for labor education at Indiana University. New Dealers designed the WPA Workers' Service Program as the model for a Federal Labor Extension Service, similar to the existing federal agricultural extension program, but it was never implemented.<ref>  Donald Eugene Hamilton, "A History of FERA and WPA Workers' Education: The Indiana Experience 1933-1943."  PhD dissertation Ball State U. 1984. 213 pp.  DAI 1984 45(3): 919-920-A. DA8412604  Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]</ref>   

Workers' education, a form of adult education, emphasized the study of economic and social problems from the workers' perspective. When the FERA created its adult education program in 1933, workers' education classes were included. Between 1933 and 1943 thirty-six states participated in the federal experiment in workers' education, 17 of them for a full ten years the program existed. With as many as two thousand teachers employed at one time, officials conservatively estimated that the program reached at least one million workers nation-wide until it was ended in World War II.  Three distinct phases of a federal workers' education program existed: FERA (1933-1935), Works Progress Administration (WPA--prior to separation from the other adult education programs, 1935-1939), and WPA Workers' Service Program (1939-1943). FERA and WPA workers' education stimulated educational activities within the labor movement. For example, in Indiana this program was particularly popular among the new, more radical [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (CIO) unions. Federal workers' education activities also encouraged union-university cooperation and laid the foundation for labor education at Indiana University. New Dealers designed the WPA Workers' Service Program as the model for a Federal Labor Extension Service, similar to the existing federal agricultural extension program, but it was never implemented.<ref>  Donald Eugene Hamilton, "A History of FERA and WPA Workers' Education: The Indiana Experience 1933-1943."  PhD dissertation Ball State U. 1984. 213 pp.  DAI 1984 45(3): 919-920-A. DA8412604  Fulltext: [[ProQuest Dissertations & Theses]]</ref>   

===Women===

===Women===

Ellen S. Woodward was director of women's work for FERA and CWA. During the short lifespan of the CWA, Woodward placed women in such civil works projects as sanitation surveys, highway and park beautification, public building renovation, public records surveys, and museum development. Most were unemplyed white collar clerical workers. In July 1934, the FERA established a separate division for professional and nonconstruction projects. Project designers in the division for professional projects faced an enormous challenge in creating effective and meaningful work for unskilled women.  In 1935 she became assistant administrator of the WPA, where she directed the income-earning projects of some 500,000 women.<ref>Martha H. Swain, "'The Forgotton Woman': Ellen S. Woodward and Women's Relief in the New Deal." ''Prologue'' 1983 15(4): 201-213. Issn: 0033-1031 </ref>  

Ellen S. Woodward was director of women's work for FERA and CWA. During the short lifespan of the CWA, Woodward placed women in such civil works projects as sanitation surveys, highway and park beautification, public building renovation, public records surveys, and museum development. Most were unemplyed white collar clerical workers. In July 1934, the FERA established a separate division for professional and nonconstruction projects. Project designers in the division for professional projects faced an enormous challenge in creating effective and meaningful work for unskilled women.  In 1935 she became assistant administrator of the WPA, where she directed the income-earning projects of some 500,000 women.<ref>Martha H. Swain, "'The Forgotton Woman': Ellen S. Woodward and Women's Relief in the New Deal." ''Prologue'' 1983 15(4): 201-213. Issn: 0033-1031 </ref>