[velvet_thunderr]

One of the Depression’s most indelible symbols was the apple seller. Photographs of men hawking apples on street corners have come to represent the lows to which once stable people fell during the economic crisis, which slashed the United States’ gross national product by nearly half and plunged up to 50 percent of the residents of some communities into unemployment.

[anovikov]

GDP only bottomed out at -26% from highest level and unemployment never reached 26% .

[velvet_thunderr]

Yes you’re right that real GDP fell by about 26–30% from its peak during the Great Depression which is slightly less than “nearly half.”

As for the unemployment part, national averages never reached 50% but some local communities like industrial cities saw much higher unemployment rates. For example Cleveland hit around 50% and Toledo (Ohio) reached as high as 80% during the early 1930s.

So the “up to 50%” talks about the extreme hardship in certain regions rather than the U.S. as a whole.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression_in_the_United...