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Children were greatly impacted by the living conditions of immigrants in New York. Families w had no option but to live together in these unhygienic slums and tenements. One out five children born in these slums died. This high death rate shows that the government at the time did not care to ameliorate people’s lives.  The New Deal set forth by President Roosevelt for the recovery of the United States following the great depression.  When President Roosevelt took office in 1933, the country was suffering from a twenty-five percent unemployment rate. The new deal focused heavily on economic reforms rather than social reforms. Labor was being exploited in the factories and the new deal was able to establish the standard minimum wage. While parents were working traitorous hours in factories, their children had to rely on their imagination for enjoyment. An image by Lewis Hine depicted the creative ways that children in tenements found to enjoy themselves. Children of all ages standing on two big wheel barrels watching their companions play makeshift baseball. The economic recession of the twentieth century had affected all aspect of the lives of immigrants, event their children’s enjoyment.