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The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was created in 1935 by Executive Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and an emergency appropriation of the U.S. Congress to address the severe unemployment problems of the nationwide Great Depression. It was one of the most significant, far reaching, visionary and ultimately controversial of the New Deal "alphabet agency" (so called because they were known by their acronyms) programs created by the Roosevelt Administration. The intent of the WPA was to preserve the self-respect of unemployed workers, conserve their skills, and utilize the vast resources of the country to create wealth and provide public benefits. The WPA was intended to provide real jobs instead of just relief. It paid what were known as "security wages"--higher than relief, but lower than prevailing wages in private business and industry. The emphasis of the WPA was consistently about investment in labor rather than in acquisition of materials.

The WPA consolidated and superseded several earlier programs, including the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), both of which were established in 1933.

Source: Historylink.org