The six-year period between 1914 and 1919 was an era of rapid growth

The six-year period between 1914 and 1919 was an era of rapid growth and change in the American economy. Demand for labor grew rapidly, while the supply of labor did not. This was partly due to a loss of male workers during World War I (2,000,000 men served in the military on behalf of the U.S. war effort), as well as to a vast curtailment of immigration during the last half of the decade. While more than one million immigrants arrived annually in the U.S. between 1900 and 1914, just over one million arrived between 1915 and 1919. Although a substantial increase in salaried employment among women kept the work force from shrinking, the labor pool did not grow between 1914 and 1919, the exact period during which manufacturing industries were undergoing great expansion. The tight labor market caused unemployment to reach an all-time low of 1.4 percent in 1918.

Simultaneously, the federal government dramatically increased its intervention in labor-related issues, requiring a maximum 48-hour work week for railroad workers with the passage of the Adamson Act in 1916, and actively mediating labor disputes, especially through the National War Labor Board, whose arbitrators often awarded the labor side an eight-hour workday. State governments strengthened the maximum-hours laws for women at the same time that many women were entering the labor market. There is little doubt that the increase in power that labor unions enjoyed during this period forced some of these political changes.

1. The passage is most relevant to which of the following areas of study?

A. political theory
B. anthropology
C. international economics
D. labor history
E. immigration demographics


2. According to the passage, all of the following contributed to the shortening of the workday EXCEPT

A. legislation passed by the government on behalf of workers
B. restrictive laws protecting women's labor activities
C. actions taken by the government to initiate the rapid expansion of the economy
D. labor unions' influence on politicians
E. rulings by the National War Labor Board in favor of the labor force


3. Which of the following statements about labor unions is best supported by the passage?

A. Labor unions would have expanded more rapidly had they encouraged women and immigrants to become members.
B. Leaders of labor unions were displeased with the passage of the Adamson Act.
C. Labor unions' increased power in the political arena helped to ensure a reduction in the number of new immigrants.
D. Because of an increase in demand for labor during World War I, the power of labor unions increased.
E. Labor unions enjoyed a greater level of power during World War I than they ever will again.


4. The author would most likely agree with which of the following statements about the reduction of immigration during the war?

A. It helped to force the implementation of federal and state legislation that mandated a reduced work week.
B. It helped to cause the rapid expansion of the economy.
C. It would not have happened had there been shorter work weeks.
D. It made it difficult for the military to expand at an appropriate rate.
E. It was a factor in producing an extremely low rate of unemployment.


5. It can most reasonably be inferred from the passage that before 1914

A. an increase in female workers kept the work force stable
B. workers earned relatively high wages and were content with their Salaries
C. unemployment reached an all-time low
D. recent immigrants worked slightly longer hours than did other workers
E. the supply of available workers satisfied the demand for labor


6. According to the passage, the American worker's eventual attainment of the eight-hour workday can best be explained by which of the following?

A. More than forty years of labor activism, leading to overwhelming popular support and eventually to victory
B. Pressure from labor unions during a period of rapid economic expansion
C. The successful reduction of immigration, coupled with an increase in wages
D. A combination of factors, including expansion of the economy and government acceptance of the demands of workers
E. The enactment of the Adamson Act in 1916


7. The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. delineate the history of the political empowerment of labor unions
B. establish the government's role in providing the American worker with an eight-hour workday
C. trace the effects of the availability of American labor on the length of the work week
D. provide data that explain the causes of a low unemployment rate
E. determine why workers prefer a shorter work week to higher wages