The National Youth Administration and Hospitals

(WPA poster, courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

In 1941 and 1942, young Americans employed in the National Youth Administration assisted 1,733 hospitals. Their duties included assistance with communication, housekeeping, mending garments, nutrition services, patient admissions, transporting patients, and aid to nurses. Though some NYA men worked in the hospitals, it was primarily NYA women who received this type of employment.

As a result of their work experience in hospitals, NYA enrollees experienced a high rate of employment in the private sector: "Hospitals themselves, took youth on as nurses' aides, office workers, and assistants in housekeeping departments. Other institutions such as orphanages or day care centers found this work experience made desirable employees. Doctors and dentists employed NYA hospital trained youth as office assistants."

(Source: Federal Security Agency, War Manpower Commission, Final Report of the National Youth Administration, Fiscal Years 1936-1943, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1944, pp. 165-167)