It is my understanding that there were effectively no railroad hires during the depression until the late 30's (3.8-39?) when the war started.

I worked with an engineer on helpers with a summer of '29 date who never worked a day until he was called back in the summer of 1938.

Skilled or unskilled didn't matter much, since there was no work, and thousands ahead of you with RR "shills" and seniority who were laid off.

I was told, by an old head switchman, once, that Indio in the winter of 1933 was down to one or two through freights a day over Beaumont. I was also told that they laid off over half of the roundhouse workforce in LA (remember there were two massive roundhouses at Taylor and the Shops back then).

With the coming of the war, skill was not required, they trained you, and seniority came fast, since many of those not laid off during that 10 year stretch, were by then in their fifties and sixties.