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The rise of the middle class: the income gap between salaried employees and workers in Sweden, ca. 1830–1940

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  • Erik Bengtsson
  • Svante Prado

Abstract

We present the first comprehensive, long run salary information on Swedish middle-class employees before the twentieth century. Our data include, for instance, school teachers, professors, clerks, policemen and janitors in Stockholm and Sweden, ca. 1830–1940. We use the new data to compare the annual earnings of these middle-class employees with the annual earnings of farm workers, unskilled construction workers and manufacturing workers. The results show that the income gap between the middle class and the working class widen drastically from the mid-nineteenth century to a historically high level during the 1880s and 1890s. The differentials then decreased during the first four decades of the twentieth century. The bulging earnings advantage of middle-class employees vis-à-vis unskilled workers chimes with Kocka’s depiction of the latter half of the nineteenth century as the era of the bourgeoisie.

Suggested Citation

  • Erik Bengtsson & Svante Prado, 2020. "The rise of the middle class: the income gap between salaried employees and workers in Sweden, ca. 1830–1940," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(2), pages 91-111, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:sehrxx:v:68:y:2020:i:2:p:91-111
    DOI: 10.1080/03585522.2019.1650293
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    Cited by:

    1. Bengtsson, Erik & Molinder, Jakob, 2024. "Incomes and income inequality in Stockholm, 1870–1970: Evidence from micro data," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Thomas, Robert D. & Davis, John W. & Cuccaro, Paula M. & Gemeinhardt, Gretchen L., 2022. "Assessing associations between insecure income and US workers’ health: An IPUMS-MEPS analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).

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