This is kinda what minimum wage jobs are? You could say depression era WPA/CCC programs were an example of a government providing this.

No, minimum wage jobs are kind of the opposite. They push underqualified people to the side, since who wants to pay $15/hour for someone only capable of producing $5/hr of value. And most jobs generally come with more obligations, like "we need you here 2pm - 10pm, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday".