National Youth Administration
The NYA was headed by Aubrey Willis Williams, a prominent liberal from Alabama who was close to Harry Hopkins and Eleanor Roosevelt.
These debilitating years saw youth unemployment rise to 30% and the younger cohorts of the United States increasingly faced the devastation of not being able to afford education.
The NYA's first mission embodied the goal to prevent already-enrolled high school and university students from dropping out before earning their degree, out of necessity due to dire financial times.
These efforts stemmed from a twofold mission to develop the youth's talent, while simultaneously keeping them from flooding the already-suffering and compromised labor markets.
[8] Aubrey Williams, who headed the Administration, felt that the solution to the problem youth faced was to give these teenagers and young adults socially useful and constructive work so that they may become assets rather than liabilities to society.
Young people were provided with work experience and learning-by-doing training in a wide variety of fields, including recreation, public service, education, the arts, research and development, agriculture, and construction.
The war effort increased the program's reach and saw a substantial surge in young, trained workers contributing to the defense industry.
Consequentially, it was the NYA's duty to provide access to education, advancement, and sense of occupational achievement through its interactive initiatives and agendas.
[11] Williams' emphasis on turning America's youth into productive citizens was further supported by President Franklin Roosevelt's proclamation that the "yield on this investment [the establishment of the NYA] should be high.
"[12] Providing the youth with the foundation they needed would enable them to contribute to America's future development, the nation's strength, and progress and acceleration forward.
The booming munitions and war industry economy was recruiting large numbers of workers, and the agency was no longer vital for ensuring work opportunity and growth among the population.
[14] Overall, the NYA helped over 4.5 million American youths find jobs, receive vocational training, and afford higher standards of education.
Through the NYA's initiatives, the youth triumphed and maintained their dignity by contributing to society, growing personally, and stimulating advancements in America that eventually proved crucial to pulling the country out of a period of domestic strife.
[8] The NYA had positive effects on the skilled labor supply, decreased the proportions of mismatched workers and employers, and improved America's capacity for production, growth, and economic stimulation.
