Both the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Social Security Act were measures taken in the context of the New Deal policies.
The WPA employed millions of Americans creating jobs temporarily, and its influence extended to almost all localities, essentially in the mountainous and rural regions of the west of the country. The majority of its beneficiaries were unemployed young people who could not access private jobs.
Because it was aimed at a mass of unemployed people who sometimes lacked of any previous work experience (for example, housewives and recent graduates), the WPA functioned, in parallel, as a center for teaching job skills.
The Social Security Act established a social protection system at the federal level: retirement for over 65s, unemployment insurance and various aids for the disabled, but the diseases and invalidity were left unfilled. The blind and handicapped children received grants financed by federal grants awarded in the states. Progressively, the system covered a wider part of the population, particularly thanks to the 1939 and 1950 amendments, but at first, it was restricted to the limits initially imposed by Roosevelt.
The Act encouraged the retirement of older workers, allowing them to leave jobs free for young workers and reducing youth unemployment.
In conclusion, both encouraged the inclusion of young people in the American labor market during the crisis.
