1. Factories and the Work Force ► Between 1860 – 1900 numbers of industrial workers increased from 885,000 to 3.2 million (trend toward large scale production).

2. From Workshop to Factory ► Shoemakers in 1840’s worked in family atmosphere ► 1880’s – shoe factories became larger and more mechanized (less personal)

3. The Hardships of Industrial Labor ► 1880’s expansion of factory system caused high demand for unskilled labor ► Contract system – to avoid problems of hiring, managing, and firing their own workers large co. negotiated agreements with a subcontractor who supervised the services of unskilled laborers.  Construction trades  Machine and tool industries  Garment making

4. The Hardships of Industrial Labor ► Unskilled and skilled workers  Worked 12 hour shifts  Faced grave hazards to their health and safety ► Children typically entered the mill at age 8 or 9.  Faced same dangers as adults, but injured more often, because of pranks and play  Supervision was lax

5. The Hardships of Industrial Labor ► Children and adults fell subject to black lung in the coal mills and brown lung in the textile mills. ► 1889 – 1 st year that the ICC compiled reliable records  Almost 2,000 rail workers were killed on the job  More than 20,000 were injured  Receiving minimal financial aid from the employer, if any.  For medical benefits, workers joined fraternal organizations and ethnic clubs paying dues

6. Immigrant Labor ► Factory owners turned to immigrant workers  Muscle jobs in factories, mills, railroads, and heavy construction  Most often new immigrants took lowest level jobs replacing prior immigrants places ► Ex. Philadelphia Amer. & Germans worked in metal working trades. Irish worked unskilled horse carting until new immigrants from Southern Europe took their place.

7. Immigrant Labor ► West Coast – Chinese immigrants took dirtiest jobs  Mining, canning, and RR construction ► “Wherever the heat is most insupportable, the flames most scorching, the smoke and soot most choking, there we are certain to find compatriots bent and wasted in toil,” ► Immigrants could save $15 a month – far more than they could have earned in their homeland

8. Immigrant Labor ► Cultural changes were hard for immigrant  Work schedules were hard ► Employers used a temperance societies and Sunday schools to teach punctuality and sobriety to immigrant worker who resisted the tempo of factory work.

9. Immigrant Labor ► “Whiteness” in the U.S. bestowed a sense of privilege and the automatic extension of the rights of citizenship  Irish, Greek, Italian, Jewish, and others were Caucasian by race but by skin color considered non-white receiving harsh treatment

10. Women and Work in Industrial America ► Women’s work experiences, like men’s, were shaped by marital status, social class, and race ► White married women accepted – “separate spheres” – remained at home, raise children, took care of the household ► Well to do had maids to ease the load

11. Women and Work in Industrial America ► Working class did not have maids and even worked at home to earn extra money ► Cigar manufacturers would by a tenement and require the families that lived there to work there. ► Clothing industries would hire out finishing tasks to lower class married women and their children.

12. Women and Work in Industrial America ► Young working class single women often viewed factory work as an opportunity. ► 1870, 13% of all women worked outside the home, the majority as cooks, maids, cleaning ladies, and laundresses. ► Disliked low pay, long hours, and being “servant”.

13. Women and Work in Industrial America ► Women went to work in textile, food- processing, and garment industries. ► Discrimination barred black women from these jobs ► 1870-1900 – # of all women (all races) in the work force tripled by 1900. ► 17% of the work total force was women

14. Women and Work in Industrial America ► Factory owners treated women as temporary help, (feared they would leave to marry) therefore wages were kept low. ► Not making enough money to live on their own, working enmeshed young women more deeply into the family instead of making them more independent.

15. Women and Work in Industrial America ► Typewriter and telephone offered new opportunities in 1890’s. ► High school educated women moved to clerical work. ► 1890, 10% of the Nation’s families owned 73% of the wealth. ► Less than half of industrial laborers earned more than the five-hundred dollar poverty line annually.