The effectiveness of the New Deal on different groups in society

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Unemployment rose in 1938. This was because in 1937 Roosevelt cut government spending, including on the WPA, to try to balance the budget, and the economy fell back into recession.

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One way was by striking down the National Industrial Recovery Act. In May 1935, in the Schechter case, brought by a small poultry firm in Brooklyn, all nine judges ruled that the NIRA was unconstitutional because it gave the president law-making power that belonged to Congress and regulated trade that took place within a single state. This ended the NRA's codes on wages, hours and child labour, one of the main parts of the first New Deal.

A second way was by striking down the Agricultural Adjustment Act. In January 1936, in the Butler case, the Court ruled that the tax used to pay farmers to produce less was unconstitutional, because farming was a matter for the states, not the federal government. Roosevelt saw these decisions by the 'nine old men', most of whom had been appointed by Republican presidents, as a threat to the whole New Deal, including the Wagner Act and Social Security.

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The New Deal affected industrial workers first by giving them new rights to join trade unions. The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 gave workers the right to join unions and bargain collectively, and when the Supreme Court struck it down in 1935, Congress passed the Wagner Act, which protected union rights and set up the National Labor Relations Board to stop employers punishing union members. As a result, union membership rose from about 3 million in 1933 to about 9 million by 1939.

These new rights led to a wave of organisation and strikes. The CIO, formed in 1935 under John L. Lewis, organised unskilled workers in mass-production industries such as cars and steel. In the sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint, Michigan, in 1936-37, workers occupied the factories until GM recognised the United Auto Workers. But some employers fought back violently: in the Memorial Day Massacre of 1937 at Republic Steel in Chicago, police killed ten demonstrators, and Ford resisted unions until 1941.

Third, the New Deal improved pay and conditions. The NRA codes set minimum wages and maximum hours and banned child labour, and after the NRA ended, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set a national minimum wage of 25 cents an hour and a maximum working week, and banned most child labour. The Social Security Act of 1935 gave workers pensions and unemployment insurance.

However, there were limits. Unemployment remained high throughout the 1930s, many unions excluded Black workers, and farm workers and domestic servants were left out of many protections. Even so, the New Deal shifted power towards industrial workers more than any previous government had done.

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Farmers gained a great deal from the New Deal, especially those who owned land. Under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, the government paid farmers to grow less, and as surpluses shrank, prices and farm incomes rose. The Farm Credit Administration refinanced farm mortgages, so fewer families lost their farms. Although the Supreme Court struck down the AAA in 1936, it was quickly replaced. The Soil Conservation Service and the Shelterbelt Project helped farmers on the Plains recover from the Dust Bowl, and the Rural Electrification Administration began to bring electricity to farms, when in 1935 only about one in ten had it. However, the benefits went mainly to landowners. Many sharecroppers and tenant farmers, a large number of them African American, were evicted so that landowners could take land out of production and keep the AAA payments, and farm labourers were excluded from Social Security.

Industrial workers also gained a lot. Section 7(a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act and then the Wagner Act of 1935 protected their right to join unions, and membership rose from about 3 million in 1933 to about 9 million in 1939. Through the CIO, workers in mass-production industries won recognition, most famously in the sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint in 1936-37. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour and maximum hours, and Social Security gave industrial workers pensions and unemployment insurance. However, unemployment stayed high, with about 9.5 million out of work in 1939, some employers resisted violently, as in the Memorial Day Massacre of 1937, and many unions excluded Black workers.

Overall, industrial workers benefited more. Both groups gained, but farmers' gains went mostly to landowners, while many of the poorest people on the land were actually harmed. Industrial workers' gains, such as union rights, a minimum wage and Social Security, applied to millions of workers and were permanent, changing the balance of power between workers and employers for decades. The New Deal raised farm prices, but it transformed the position of industrial workers.