Working Conditions During The Industrial Revolution
Could you imagine working for as long as 18 hours a day, six days a week? How about in 80 degree weather, doing tedious and often dangerous work? To make matters worse, what would it be like to be constantly hungry and tired, knowing that you would face harsh and hurtful punishments if you didn't meet the demands? During much of the Industrial revolution, this scenario was the norm for men, women, and children of the working class. The pay was barely enough to live on, and the workers returned home to crowded and unsanitary apartments, overflowing with disease. Although various government reform programs later made work and life a little bit nicer for the people, it still wasn't paradise. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens wrote, "it
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Today, if someone was made to work on a assembly line, they would probably file a lawsuit due to carpal tunnel. During the Industrial Revolution, this was unheard of, even for ailments far greater than carpal tunnel. People commonly worked anywhere from twelve to eighteen hours, with few or no breaks. Thus, they hardly had time to eat at work, and when they got home were too tired to eat, so hunger was almost constant. The factories were dirty, hot, and poorly lighted, and usually had low ceilings. The jobs that the workers were made to carry out were dangerous, even deadly, especially in the coal mines. Workers were beaten if they dozed off on the job or weren't meeting the demands, and in some cases the beatings were fatal. Could you imagine going to work and wondering if you'd survive the day?
During the Industrial Revolution, an "increase in manufacturing provided more jobs. This boasted the economy, and production and job opportunity increased ('Living Conditions' fact sheet)." This was better than before the Revolution, when not everyone had jobs, making the increase in manufacturing a good thing. Still, pay was horrible. On the average, men got 15 to 20 shillings a week, women got 5, and children got one. This pay was hardly enough to live on, and as a result families often starved and lived in dirty, overcrowded slums. That was a bad
Today, if someone was made to work on a assembly line, they would probably file a lawsuit due to carpal tunnel. During the Industrial Revolution, this was unheard of, even for ailments far greater than carpal tunnel. People commonly worked anywhere from twelve to eighteen hours, with few or no breaks. Thus, they hardly had time to eat at work, and when they got home were too tired to eat, so hunger was almost constant. The factories were dirty, hot, and poorly lighted, and usually had low ceilings. The jobs that the workers were made to carry out were dangerous, even deadly, especially in the coal mines. Workers were beaten if they dozed off on the job or weren't meeting the demands, and in some cases the beatings were fatal. Could you imagine going to work and wondering if you'd survive the day?
During the Industrial Revolution, an "increase in manufacturing provided more jobs. This boasted the economy, and production and job opportunity increased ('Living Conditions' fact sheet)." This was better than before the Revolution, when not everyone had jobs, making the increase in manufacturing a good thing. Still, pay was horrible. On the average, men got 15 to 20 shillings a week, women got 5, and children got one. This pay was hardly enough to live on, and as a result families often starved and lived in dirty, overcrowded slums. That was a bad