Archivo del autor: Peter Van der Heyden

A number of improvements in the daily life of the working class were funded by the government, by private industry, or by rate-payers. Thus they are not visible in the long-term movements in the weekly wages. Another way of looking at this, is that they are included in the increase in Gross National Product, butSigue leyendo «17.9. Installation of Infrastructure without Charge to Wage-Earners»

The percentage of male workers in the services sector increased from 15 % in 1770 to 22 % in 1860; probably the same movement took place as to the female workers. (The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, The Occupational Structure of Britain 1379-1911; https://www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/occupations/overview/) These people are not included inSigue leyendo «17.8. Increase of the Services Sector»

Thus they did not impact the average growth of the country. In 1770, the number of families of agricultural labourers was 745,000, and of non-agricultural workers was 844,000; the cotton workers were 75,000, while solely the building artisans (carpenters, joiners, painters, bricklayers, stonemasons) were 118,000. In 1830, the cotton workers were 302,000 families (of whichSigue leyendo «17.7. The Textile Districts were not very large»

It is probable that the Industrial North, the West Midlands, and London, had better incomes, and better nutrition (meat) than the rest of the country. Until 1830 at least, the non-industrial regions did not have a special impulse to grow, and thus grew at only the rate of before 1800. Thus some of the statisticsSigue leyendo «17.6. Geographical Distribution»

It is probable that the retail prices improved during the period as a proportion of the wholesale prices, as the effective margins of the wholesalers were reduced, from the lesser use of chandlers’ shops, from the prohibition of “truck” and “tommy shops” and the introduction of workers’ cooperatives. There is however no clear arithmetical evidenceSigue leyendo «17.5. The Retail Prices Index did not necessarily move in Step with the Wholesale Prices»

The basic assumption in the comparison of increases in wages with increases in costs of food and services, is that all the workers/families in the first years of the Industrial Revolution, had incomes just covering their expenses. However, this is not true. All the “family budgets” for cotton workers that we have, starting in 1806,Sigue leyendo «17.4. Excess of Family Income over Basic Costs»

Next we have to inspect the judgement of Charles Feinstein: “For the majority of the working class the historical reality was that they had to endure almost a century of hard toil with little or no advance from a low base before they really began to share in any of the benefits of the economicSigue leyendo «17.3. Good Wage Levels at the Beginning of the Industrial Revolution»

The idea here is to show that it is not in general useful, to compare the income of one head of family in 1770 with the income of one head of family in 1860. The correct calculation is to compare the total income of (for example) 1.0 head of family and 0.65 other family membersSigue leyendo «17.2. Increased «Job Density» per Family»

From the totality of the previous chapters, we have three basic descriptions of England in the Industrial Revolution from 1770 to 1860. From 1770 to 1860, the agricultural labourers had only a small increase in their nominal income (including harvest month, task-work, and work done by wife andchildren) from 13 shillings to 17 shillings perSigue leyendo «17.1. Apparent Contradictions»

17.1. Apparent Contradictions https://history.pictures/2020/03/25/17-1-apparent-contradictions/ 17.2. Increased «Job Density» per Family https://history.pictures/2020/03/25/17-2-increased-job-density-per-family/ 17.3. Good Wage Levels at the Beginning of the Industrial Revolution https://history.pictures/2020/03/26/17-3-good-wage-levels-at-the-beginning-of-the-industrial-revolution/ 17.4. Excess of Family Income over Basic Costs https://history.pictures/2020/03/27/17-4-excess-of-family-income-over-basic-costs/ 17.5. The Retail Prices Index did not necessarily move in Step with the Wholesale Prices https://history.pictures/2020/03/27/17-5-the-retail-prices-index-did-not-necessarily-move-in-step-with-the-wholesale-prices/ 17.6. Geographical Distribution https://history.pictures/2020/03/27/17-6-geographical-distribution/ 17.7. The TextileSigue leyendo «Chapter 17. Solutions»