The Industrial Revolution: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Robert C. Allen

Author:Robert C. Allen [Allen, Robert C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2017-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

Inequality within the working class

If we left the matter here, we would have a view of working class living standards that was neither optimistic nor pessimistic: In the first half of the 19th century, consumption per head in the average worker’s household neither rose nor fell noticeably; however, workers on average slipped behind other, better off groups whose earnings rose rapidly. While apparently moderate, this conclusion is still far too Panglossian, for it ignores one of the crucial features of the period: the dramatic increase in wage inequality among workers. Those in the modern, expanding sectors often could do well, while their counterparts in the handicraft sectors did badly. The latter experienced acute poverty. This development is completely obscured in the average. Indeed, the point of averaging is to cancel out the highs and the lows.

We can see the increase in inequality in the Lancashire labour market. Figure 12 plots the real earnings of building labourers, farm labourers, and handloom weavers from 1770 to 1850.

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