5. What was the Works Progress Administration?

Was a American new deal agency employing millions of job-seekers (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public works.

One of the most ambitious programs enacted by the Franklin Roosevelt Administration during the Great Depression was the Works Progress Administration. Created by an executive order from the President Roosevelt, the goal of the Works Progress Administration was to provide a paying job for any family whose primary wage-earner was unemployed. Most of the workers in the WPA employed were unskilled laborers who were hired for construction projects.