NYS Department of Labor - what caused the sharp rise unemployment after world war i historical context for current claims
I'm working on my weekly job search requirement for NYS Department of Labor and doing some research on employment trends. I keep seeing references to unemployment spikes after WWI and wondering if anyone knows what caused that sharp rise? I'm trying to understand historical patterns since my claim has been in adjudication for weeks and I'm getting worried about similar economic disruptions happening again. My grandfather used to talk about the post-war job struggles but never explained the actual causes. Anyone have insight into what specifically led to those unemployment increases back then?
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Aiden Chen
The main factors were demobilization of 4 million soldiers flooding the job market, conversion from wartime to peacetime production causing factory layoffs, and inflation that made goods too expensive for consumers to buy. Industries that boomed during the war like steel and shipbuilding suddenly had no government contracts. It's actually similar to some of the economic transitions we see today that can affect unemployment claims.
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Sophia Bennett
•That makes sense about the factory conversions. I'm wondering if my employer's recent layoffs are related to similar contract changes. Do you think understanding these patterns helps with NYS Department of Labor job search strategies?
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Zoey Bianchi
yeah my great uncle was one of those soldiers who came back and couldn't find work for months... sounds familiar to waiting for NYS Department of Labor to approve claims lol. the government just dumped millions of people into an economy that wasn't ready
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Christopher Morgan
If you're dealing with a long adjudication process, you might want to try Claimyr to get through to an actual NYS Department of Labor agent. I used their service at claimyr.com when my claim was stuck for over a month. They have this video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Way easier than trying to call yourself and getting hung up on constantly.
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Aurora St.Pierre
•How does that actually work? I've been trying to reach someone at NYS Department of Labor for three weeks about my adjudication status.
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Grace Johnson
THE SAME THING HAPPENS EVERY TIME THERE'S A BIG ECONOMIC SHIFT! Government creates jobs during crisis then abandons workers when it's over. NYS Department of Labor probably uses the same playbook from 1919 - delay claims and hope people give up!
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Jayden Reed
•That's pretty cynical but honestly after dealing with this adjudication process I'm starting to feel the same way...
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Nora Brooks
Interesting historical perspective! The post-WWI recession of 1920-1921 was brutal. Labor strikes were also a huge factor - when workers tried to maintain wartime wage levels, many industries just shut down operations temporarily. It's a reminder that unemployment systems need to be robust enough to handle sudden economic shifts.
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