The bedrock of corporate profit is consumer demand.
We're in a vicious cycle where people are unemployed/underemployed -> consumer demand is depressed (because they have no money) -> companies don't hire (because nobody will buy their goods) -> people are unemployed
You have to break the cycle by first propping up consumer demand, and the most direct way to that is by giving consumers money to spend.
And he would've succeeded if he was willing to blow up the deficit further.
That actually happened with our entry into WW2, sharp increases in spending and hiring, and immediate end to the Great Depression (note that weapons, ships, planes and the like are about useful to a peacetime economy as digging holes in the ground--the key is you need to hire a lot of people to make them)
And exactly how the WW2 recovery happened. Government created demand for products, and deficit spent until the economy roared back. Subsequent gov't surpluses from increased tax revenue were then used to pay down deficit.
Uh dropping the Hours for full time work. The DOL made the time and a half for work over 40 hrs per week to increase labor demand. Imagine a world where it's 6 hrs per day or 30 per week. More people would be employed. And since those hours are paid piece wise no ones hourly wage would decrease. That's how the labor force could increase.
Do you have any thoughts on how to create jobs?
There are lots of studies that show that welfare dependency is destructive to goodwill; it's not JUST about giving people dollars.