WW1+and+Aftermath

=Mobilizing the Workforce = The success of the war effort also depended on the cooperation of the workers. To prevent future strikes, the government estabilished the National War Labor Board (NWLB) in 1918. The NWLB attempted to mediate labor disputes that could eventually lead to strikes. The NWLB pressured industries often to improve their wages, adopt an 8-hour workday, and allow unions the right to organize and bargain collectively. In return, the workers agreed not to disrupt war production. Memberships in unions rose by over 1 million between 1917 and 1919.

With large numbers of men in the military, employers were willing to hire women for the jobs that were originally only given to the men. About 1 million women joined the workforce for the first time. The women worked in factories, railroad yards, shipyards, and served as police officers, mail carriers, and train engineers. Although these changes were not permanent. When the war was over most of the women returned to their normal lives and quit their jobs. They showed that they were capable of holding jobs that many believed only men could do.

Women weren't the only group in American society to benefit economically. Henry Ford was desperate for workers so he sent company agents South to recruit African Americans. The promises of high wages and plenty of work convinced between 300,000 and 500,000 African Americans to leave and move North. This movement became know as the "Great Migration." It changed the racial makeup of cities like Chicago, New York, Cleveland, and Detroit. This also changed American politics. While in the South, African Americans were not allowed to vote, they were allowed to vote in northern cities.

The war also encouraged other ethnic groups to migrate also. While there was political turmoil in Mexico and labor shortage in the United States, many Mexicans migrated to the north. From 1917-1920, over 100,000 Mexicans migrated to the Southwest. Many face hostility and discrimination when they arrived in American cities. Like other immigrants before them they settled in their own seperate neighborhoods, called barrios.