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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»

The above calculations show us what happened to the standard wage levels for the head of the family, from 1770 to 1860. They are not useful to demonstrate what happened to the living costs per family member, because they do not take into account income from other family members, and the wages are calculated per earnerSigue leyendo «16.6. Necessary Corrections»

Wages index Expenses index Real Wages All occup All occup All occup 1770 100.0 100.0 100.0 1775 103.0 107.5 95.8 1780 109.3 95.2 114.4 1785 113.8 102.9 110.5 1790 124.0 113.3 109.4 1795 150.3 136.0 110.5 1800 154.3 183.3 84.2 1805 163.9 170.3 96.2 1810 172.5 190.8 90.4 1815 175.5 166.2 105.6 1820 166.2 160.5Sigue leyendo «16.5. Wages, Expenses, and Real Wages for Agricultural plus Non-Agricultural Occupations»

The comparisons between the wages indices and the expenses indices give the following results. (In all cases, in the five-yearly data, the figures for 1840 and for 1855 are not representative of the general trend, as exactly these years had abnormal inflation; the recommendation is to mentally draw a straight line from 1835 to 1845,Sigue leyendo «16.4. Movements in Real Wages, Agricultural and Non-Agricultural»