Industrial Workers

Text Pages 572-573

The industrial growth of the late 1800s created new jobs.

Industrial growth raised the

standard of living for Americans.

Compare what factories were like

before mass production and

what they were like after…

• Factories were once small workplaces where employers & employees worked side-by-side.

•Now, factories are larger and less

personal.

Describe the industrial labors’ work day & week:•Workers

typically had 10-12 hour days; and a

6 day a week.

•That’s a 60-70+ hour

work week!!!

How might workers loose their jobs?

1. They could be fired for any reason.

2. They lost jobs during downturns (when business was not booming).

3. They could be replaced by immigrants willing to work for less.

Describe conditions in factories and

mines:• Noisy• Unhealthy•Unsafe

Describe a common steel mill accident:•Burns from spills of hot steel.

Describe a common mine

accident:•Coal miners died in cave-ins and from the effect of gas and coal

dust.

Describe common textile ailments:

1. Lung damage due to airborne lint.

2. Eyesight ruined by poor lighting.

3. Flammable material caused factories to become “firetraps.”

Define “sweatshops”

Crowded urban

factories where

laborers work for low wages.

Women WorkersMany

women had jobs as

domestic servants in

the late 1800s.

By 1900 more than one million women worked in

industry.

Describe the salary of women in the

workplace:• Salaries

were about half

of what men

made.

Explain why this was allowed to happen:

•There were not any laws regarding workers’ salaries.

Child Labor• By 1900 hundreds of thousands of children under 16 years worked in factories.

•State legislatures passed laws to protect children.

List some child labor laws:1. Children had to

be at least 12 years old.

2. Children could not work more than 10 hours per week.

Kids lost limbs in mining and industrial accidents.

Were the child labor laws effective? Why?

•No, because employers

widely ignored

child labor laws.

Did these laws apply to children working in agricultural

field? • NO !!

How many children where employed by the agricultural

field? About one million.