One of most important domestic results of the war effort was the growth of the labor movement and the labor movement became a major political force in the United States. During the war, the government put a lid on wages to curb inflation, and this led to decline in the purchasing power of workers; unions responded increasing their organizing efforts. The National War Labor Board (NWLB), created in 1942 to resolve labor disputes, required employers to bargain with unions and outlawed unfair labor practices. As the war ended, organized labor sought to maintain its gains, which contributed to the wave of strikes that swept the nation in the late 1940s.