Fig. [ ]. Source: Braddock Hickman
As indicated the graph in Fig. [ ], these payrolls started rising in
January 1928, and then soared between November 1928 and October 1929
before falling by around 20% by the end of April 1930, even before the
across-the-board economic collapse started in July. In contrast, the
payrolls in the iron and steel industries neither grew, nor fell so
rapidly (by around 10%) in the same period (by ), despite the fact (as
we will show in more detail further in this paper) that these industries
were also immediately affected in October 1929 by the crisis which was
complicated by probably largely independently declining demand for
automobiles.
However, [AN ARGUMENT ON WHY UTILITIES PROBABLY WEREN’T CRUCIAL AT
LEAST IN THE INITIAL STAGE OF THE CRISIS]