As COVID-19 wreaks havoc on our health and economy, are we about to confront a scenario as bleak as the 1930s?
mean some of the techniques relied on for comfort and finding work back then are not feasible today. Cinemas, pubs, theatres, many shops and sports games have shut down and people have been told to stay home and avoid all but essential outings to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
Conversation and socialising also filled the time, with a focus on politics and gossip. "The most important and constant form of entertainment was conversation. We don't talk to each other to the extent that people do then," McCalman says. As women were paid much less in the 1930s than men, some women managed to keep their jobs throughout the Depression, while others spent time at home making ends meet. Almost everything was made from scratch and households kept chickens and grew vegetables.
"There are so many stories about people supplementing their income, if they had any, through fishing, vegie gardens and you could go prawning on coastal NSW. Communities used natural resources from the environment to get by."from the spread of coronavirus, with female-dominated industries like retail, accommodation and food services most likely to stand down staff or cut pay.
Local governments across the country have long lists of small-scale infrastructure projects that can provide a pipeline of work. Local government is in a good position to identify additional projects such as tree planting, waterway remediation and open space enhancements, which can be undertaken by workers with a basic skill set. This approach would reduce the pressure on the more skilled construction workforce so they can focus on housing and infrastructure building.
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