- Target:
- President, the U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress
- Region:
- United States of America
Started in 1935 by the Roosevelt administration, and later renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration, the WPA was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unemployed people, mostly unskilled men, to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads.
In much smaller but more famous projects the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects.
Almost every community in the United States had a new park, bridge or school constructed by the agency.
At its peak in 1938, it provided paid jobs for three million unemployed men and women, as well as youth in a separate division, the National Youth Administration. Between 1935 and 1943, the WPA provided almost eight million jobs. It tried to provide one paid job for all families in which the breadwinner suffered long-term unemployment.
The WPA was a national program that operated its own projects in cooperation with state and local governments, which provided 10%-30% of the costs. The WPA provided millions of Americans with jobs for 8 years. Hourly wages were typically set to the prevailing wages in each area.
We, the undersigned, call on the President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Congress to establish a modern day version of the WPA to help alleviate the devastating effects that long term unemployment has had on individuals, families and our economy.
The purpose of the WPA 2000 would be to provide a job to anyone that wants to work, young or old, skilled or unskilled.
With our crumbling infrastructure and the need to help alleviate the problem of long term unemployment that still exists, it's time for our elected representatives to put politics aside and do what's right for the country and its citizens. And that's to create a jobs program.
When you help our people, you help our country. Put us to work.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Put US to Work petition to President, the U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress was written by george sucato and is in the category Employment at GoPetition.