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How skilled were English agricultural labourers in the early nineteenth century?1

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  • JOYCE BURNETTE

Abstract

Using the wage accounts of two different farms in the 1830s and 1840s, matched with census records to determine the age of the workers, this article estimates age‐wage profiles for male and female agricultural labourers. Females earned less than males, and had less wage growth over their life cycles. Male wage profiles peaked at age 30–5, earlier than the wage profiles of workers today. Before the age of 30 wage growth was more rapid than increases in strength, but less rapid than wage growth among factory workers. If wage increases after the age of 20 indicate skill acquisition, then male agricultural labourers acquired a significant amount of skill, but less skill than contemporaneous factory workers.

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  • Joyce Burnette, 2006. "How skilled were English agricultural labourers in the early nineteenth century?1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 59(4), pages 688-716, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:59:y:2006:i:4:p:688-716
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2006.00363.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Robert A. Margo, 2000. "Introduction to "Wages and Labor Markets in the United States, 1820-1860"," NBER Chapters, in: Wages and Labor Markets in the United States, 1820-1860, pages 1-5, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Robert A. Margo, 2000. "Wages and Labor Markets in the United States, 1820-1860," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number marg00-1.
    3. Boyer,George R., 1990. "An Economic History of the English Poor Law, 1750–1850," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521364799, January.
    4. Huberman,Michael, 2010. "Escape from the Market," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521142663, January.
    5. Rothenberg, Winifred Barr, 1992. "From Market-Places to a Market Economy," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226729534, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lueger, Tim, 2018. "A VAR Evaluation of Classical Growth Theory," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 97403, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    2. Mario García‐Zúñiga & Ernesto LóPEZ LOSA, 2021. "Skills and human capital in eighteenth‐century Spain: wages and working lives in the construction of the Royal Palace of Madrid (1737–1805)†," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(3), pages 691-720, August.

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