“Greece is in its own Great Depression. But unlike the United States, it won't be able to get back on its feet as quickly,” said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Greece “is shackled by onerous rules and regulations, an aging population and a dysfunctional domestic political system,” he added, and the country is “sharing important elements of sovereignty with its own creditors.”

1933: Automotive workers in Detroit lining up to cash their checks. 2014: People entering an employment agency in an Athens suburb. The New York Times; Yorgos Karahalis/Reuters

An Economic Crisis Government spending helped pull the United States out of the Great Depression starting in 1933, and decoupling the dollar from gold helped. Though the economy slipped back into recession in 1937, the onset of World War II and furious military spending helped the country recover for good.



Greece hasn’t had its own currency since it joined the euro, and an inefficient bureaucracy has long failed to improve tax collection or to trim its bloated government. At this point, Greece is just struggling to pay its bills, as it tries to secure aid from Europe.

Gross domestic product

U.S. 1933 Greece 2013 –26% –26% +5% 0 –5 –10 –15 –20 –25 –30 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 +5% 0 –5 –10 –15 –20 –25 –30 1929 1931 1933 1935 2007 2009 2011 2013

Percentage change in annual G.D.P. since 1929 in the U.S. and since 2007 in Greece

1937: Jean Schwartz, a dress finisher, filled out an application for unemployment insurance in New York. 2015: A man begging on the street near a shipyard in the town of Perama. The area has a 90 percent unemployment rate. John Lindsay/Associated Press; Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Wary Job-Seekers The American government helped bolster the employment market in the 1930s, by pouring billions of dollars into public jobs. Amid a bleak financial picture, unemployment in Greece remains extremely high, with more than a quarter of job-seekers unemployed and youth joblessness now topping 50 percent.

Unemployment rate, monthly

U.S. May 1933 Greece July 2013 26% 28% 30% 25 20 15 10 5 0 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 30% 25 20 U.S. 15 Greece 10 5 0 1930 1932 1934 1936 2008 2010 2012 2014

Seasonally adjusted

1929: The scene on Wall Street after the stock market crash. 2015: A display of falling stock prices at the exchange in Athens. Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press

Shaky Stocks After losing billions of dollars on Black Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1929, the market spiraled. A few years later, the market began to bounce back. The volatility in Greece, which began during the global financial crisis in 2008, continues, as investors remain wary of the country’s prospects.

Greek vs. U.S. stock market

0% Dow July 1932 Greece June 2012 –20 –89% –91% –40 –60 –80 –100 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 0 -20 -40 -60 -80 -100 1930 1932 1934 1936 2008 2010 2012 2014

Percentage change since the Dow industrials peak in September 1929 and the Athens Stock Exchange General index peak in October 2007.