The Work Projects Administration (Wpa)

The Works Progress Administration which was renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration. Also known as the WPA. This was the largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency out of all of them. This administration employed millions of unemployed people, most were unskilled men, to carry out public works projects. This included the construction of public buildings and public roads. In a much smaller but more famous project, Federal Project Number One, the WPA employed most musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects.

Almost every community in the United States of America had a new park. Even new bridges or schools constructed by the agency. The WPA's initial appropriation in 1935 was for $4.9 billion. This was about 6.7% percent of the 1935 GDP.
Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA provided jobs and income to those who were unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States.
At WPA’s peak in 1938, it provided paid jobs for over three million unemployed men and women. As well as youth in a separate division, the National Youth Administration. Between 1935 and 1943, when the agency was disbanded, the WPA employed over 8.5 million people. Most people who needed a job were eligible for employment in some capacity. Hourly wages were typically set to the current wages in each area. Full employment, which was reached in 1942, surfaced as a long-term national goal around 1944. This was not the goal of the WPA; rather, the WPA tried to provide at least one paying job for all families in which the job holder suffered long-term unemployment.

"The stated goal of public building programs was to end the depression or, at least, get rid of its worst effects," sociologist Robert D. Leighninger stated. "Millions of people needed sustainable incomes. Work relief was wanted over public assistance because it gave self-respect, reinforced work ethic, and kept skills
sharp.

The WPA was a national program that operated its own projects. They did this in cooperation with state and local governments, which provided about 10% to 30% of the their costs. Usually a local sponsor gave land and often trucks and other supplies for the WPA to use. With the WPA responsible for wages and also for the salaries of supervisors, who were not on relief. The WPA sometimes took over state and local relief programs that had originated in the Reconstruction Finance Corporation or Federal Emergency Relief Administration programs.

The Work Projects Administration was disbanded on June 30, 1943, as a result of low unemployment due to the worker shortage of World War II. The WPA had provided millions of Americans with jobs for years.