Gilded Age Working Conditions

U.S. History IIMr. Blais

Workers and Type of Work• Factory work between 1860 and

1890 continually increased.• There were 900,000 factory

workers in 1860 and over three million by 1890.

• People who had once held advantages over others for knowing a skill were now put out of business and forced to work in unskilled jobs.

• Tasks were menial and repetitive

Working Conditions• The average worker had 10-

14 hour shifts, and commonly worked six days a week

• Workers made between $400-$500 a year and the minimum needed for a descent standard of living was around $600

• Some workers even had to live in company towns and shop only at company stores with company money

Hazards of the Job• In the late 1800s there were NO

safety regulations• Child labor was common place and

nearly a third of all school age children worked full time jobs.

• Workers breathed in saw dust, coal dust, and toxic fumes

• Machines were so crammed together that injuries were everyday occurrences

• Work related fatalities were also common place to the point were some factories had fatalities daily.

Job Insecurity• If workers were injured the

job they simply lost their job.• If killed, there was no

compensation given to families.

• Workers were also constantly laid off due to economic recessions

• They were simply expendable due to the lack of skill necessary to do their jobs.

Efforts at Unionizing • There were attempts made by

workers to unionize and create change in the workplace.

• However there were issues with organization…such as:– High numbers of immigrants

didn’t speak the same language– People were constantly moving

from job to job– Employers would refuse to high

unionized workers– Strikes failed because employers

would hire all new workers