Industrialization - American Labor

Daily Wages and Hours

 

Average Work Day

Daily Wage
1860 = 100

1860

11.0

100

1870

10.5

167

1880

10.3

143

1890

10.0

168


 

Weekly Wages and Hours in Manufacturing

 

Average Work
Week in Hours

Hourly Wage

Average Annual Wage

1890

60

20 cents

 

1900

59

22 cents

$400-500

1910

56.6

26 cents

 

1920

51

66 cents

$1,424

1930

42

55 cents

$1,368

1940

38

66 cents

$1,300

1950

40.5

$1.46

$3,008


 

Average Annual Earnings,
1870-1900

1870

$375

1880

$395

1890

$519

1900

$573


Questions for Discussion

  1. Describe the general trend in the wages of American workers.
  2. When did wages rise most rapidly? Most slowly?

 

Strikes

1881

477

1890

1,897

1900

1,839

1905

2,186

1915

1,593

1916

3,789

1917

4,450

1918

3,353

1919

3,630

1920

3,411

1930

637

1935

2,014

1940

2,508

1945

4,750

1950

4,843


Questions for Discussion

  1. When was labor unrest greatest?
  2. During what periods did the number of strikes rise most rapidly?

Metadata

Era: 1945 to the Present, The Progressive Era to the New Era, 1900-1929, The Rise of Industrial America, 1877-1900, Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877, National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860
Sub Era: The Fifties, The Politics of Reform, The Gilded Age, World War I, Reconstruction
Theme: Economics, Reform Movements
Curriculum Subject: Economics
Grade Level: 9, 10, 11, 12
Keywords: Closing the Western Frontier, employement wages, Strikes

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