Designing for the Life Span Segment 2
Designing for the Life Span Segment 2 
Previous Slide Next Slide Segment
Index
Home First Slide Last Slide
[D]
Transition & Change in the American Economy in the 20th Century.
The American Agrarian Economy- from the beginning through 1920.
The American Industrial Economy- 1900 through 1975.
The transition from centuries of an agrarian economy occurred rapidly during the first half of the 20th Century- precipitated by two world wars during which American manufacturing expanded and drew in an American workforce. Immigration provided much of the labor supply along with the young leaving farms or returning from wars. By the 1950s, the last of the childhood diseases, poliomyelitis, was beaten and the focus of medical research changed to address pathologies related to aging and the chronic problems of a growing aging population.
Listen to the Audio (MP3, 389 KB) or read the transcript:
Within a very short span of time from the turn of the century and into the 1930s, America rapidly evolved into an industrial economy. Younger people left the subsistence level of existence of farming for the promise of a wage and steady work in factories. Older Americans were left behind to remain on the farm - sometimes without the support to continue the work. World War I had also had an impact on the economy as well as on the psyche of the returning American veteran. By the 1960s, and after a second war had also stimulated the growth of an industrial economy, fully 60% of all employment was in manufacturing. America had become a smokestack country from the steel mills of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to the automobile plants of Detroit to the aircraft plants of Seattle, Washington.
Previous Slide Next Slide Segment
Index
Home First Slide Last Slide