Youth Jobs and Defense: NYA's Role in Wartime Production

This silent film focuses on the National Youth Administration's (NYA) training programs designed to prepare young people for defense-related jobs in the early 1940s. The footage shows young men working with milling machines and lathes, creating dies, forging and shaping metal for military cots, handling sheet metal for oil cans, and pouring lead casings. In Buffalo, New York, both boys and girls are engaged in manufacturing, assembling small metal boxes for electrical components, working in a foundry, assembling gliders, and contributing to the construction of Flying Fortresses at an aircraft plant. This film underscores the NYA's significant contribution to the war effort by providing skilled labor and training opportunities to the youth during a critical time.