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Having seen the movements of nominal incomes and of inflation-adjusted incomes, at least in the industrial employments, we can pass to other methods of measurement of living standards. The numbers referring to wages are somewhat suspect since we cannot know if we are adjusting correctly for the cost of living. What we can do, isSigue leyendo «Chapter 9. Non-Income Parameters»

Friedrich Engels and “The Condition of the Working Classes in England in 1844” November 2025 [Page references of English texts are to the first English language edition, 1887, translation by Florence Kelley Wischnewetzky, authorized by Friedrich Engels, https://archive.org/details/conditionofworki00enge_0%5D [Page references of German texts are to «Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England», (Zweite Auflage), 1848, GoogleSigue leyendo «Chapter 8. Engels»

According to Henry Wood’s estimations, the number of domestic hand-loom weavers in Great Britain went down from 240,000 in 1830 to 188,000 in 1835, 123,000 in 1840, and to 69,000 in 1845. We have seen from contemporary evidence that the 1830 employment remained the same until 1834, so that the numbers probably reduced rapidly fromSigue leyendo «7. 10. Wages and Employment after 1835»

The rapporteur of the “Analysis of the Evidence taken before the Select Committees on Hand-Loom Weavers’ Petitions (1834-1835)” gave a number of possible causes of the bad situation of the weavers, of which the most important were: reduction of wages, over-production of goods, home competition, want of combination, machinery, the power-loom, and twist exportation. As heSigue leyendo «7.9. Reasons adduced to the Committees in 1834 and 1835»

The question is, why were the masters and the wholesalers so insistent upon pushing the payments to the weavers down to an absolute minimum? The amounts per weaver were very small. What happened arithmetically, was that the costs of weaving, in shillings per piece, were high. The hand-loom weavers were very inefficient in comparison withSigue leyendo «7.8. Composition of Costs of the Wholesaler»

“Can you point out any other cause for the distress of the hand-loom weavers to which you think some remedy might be applied?” “Since 1815, when I began to manufacture on my own account, prices have had a continual tendency to fall; there have been temporary reactions, but the uniform tendency has been downwards. ThisSigue leyendo «7.7. Over-Production and Home Competition»

The main point to be cleared up, is why the hand-loom weavers were receiving such low payments in the years around 1834, when the demand was very high, that is, the workers were forced by the demand to work 12 hours a day. “The machine-makers of Lancashire are engaged to the full extent of theirSigue leyendo «7.6. Low Wages and High Volumes around 1830-1834»

Returning to the question, as to if the introduction of the power-loom had had a negative effect on the wages of the domestic hand-loom weavers, the persons interviewed by Select Committees (owners and workers) were all clear that there had been no – or very little – effect. “Then you are of the opinion thatSigue leyendo «7.5. Lack of Negative Effects of the Power-Loom»

In 1826 the weavers’ wages went down again, from about 9 shillings to about 6 shillings on average. This brought them down from the description of “poor” to that of “suffering”. The reason seems to have been a contraction of the money supply brought about by the Bank of England in response to the failureSigue leyendo «7.4. Second Depression of Wages 1826»

A cotton manufacturer in 1835 gave a further reason why the wages of the hand-loom weavers contracted in 1817.      “You think they [the owners] have not got so good profits from that time [1816]?” “No, I do not think they have.”  “At what particular juncture was it that this great pressure came upon the hand-loomSigue leyendo «7.3. The Business Model of the Cotton Industry»