I’ve tried Googling this but didn’t see reliable information. I also searched the SD Forums but couldn’t find anything there, either. Today the unemployment rate is based largely based on people applying for/receiving unemployment benefits, but of course, there was no federal unemployment program during the Depression. So how did officials ascertain, for instance, that unemployment rose to about 25% in 1933? I know our current system of measurement is somewhat inaccurate. Am I right in assuming the methodology during the Great Depression was at least as unreliable? If so, is it more likely that Depression unemployment rates were higher than recorded or lower than recorded?
No, it is not.
I know this is a common belief but it’s totally untrue. Unemployment is NOT calculated based on unemployment benefits, and never has been.
That is correct, but this misunderstanding likely stems from the fact that in addition to the unemployment figures (which come from a monthly survey), new unemployment claims are also reported monthly.
The Department of Labor didn’t start collecting unemployment data until 1940. Data for other years was based on estimates made much later by scholars, and the methods differ. The wikipedia article on unemployment has some information on the sources for pre-1940 data that’s a good starting point.
Unemployment wasn’t systematically measured during the Depression. The 1930 census tried, and the Census tried a postcard survey in 1936, but really there was nothing but guesses based on changes in Employment.
In 1948 the “official” unemployment numbers for the Depression were calculated but they’re not accurate and some of the methodology, such as including people in govt works programs as unemployed, is questionable.
In 1940 a household survey (now the Current Population Survey) was started by the Census Bureau and BLS took it over although Census still does the collection.