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Looking for work? Or looking for workers? Days and hours of work in London construction in the eighteenth century

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  • Judy Stephenson

Abstract

This paper provides new information and data on how work and pay actually operated for skilled and semi-skilled men on large London construction projects in the early 1700s, and for the first time, offers detailed firm level evidence on the number of days per year worked by men. Construction workers’ working days were bounded by structural factors of both supply and demand, men worked a far lower number of days than has been assumed until now. This has implications for our understanding of the ‘industrious revolution’, and industrialisation.

Suggested Citation

  • Judy Stephenson, 2018. "Looking for work? Or looking for workers? Days and hours of work in London construction in the eighteenth century," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _162, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:oxf:esohwp:_162
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jensen, Peter Sandholt & Radu, Cristina Victoria & Sharp, Paul Richard, 2019. "Days Worked and Seasonality Patterns of Work in Eighteenth Century Denmark," Discussion Papers on Economics 10/2019, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    2. Humphries, Jane & Schneider, Benjamin, 2020. "Losing the thread: a response to Robert Allen dagger: a response to Robert Allen," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102559, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Benjamin Schneider, 2022. "Good Jobs and Bad Jobs in History," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _202, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    4. Alexandra de Pleijt & Jan Luiten van Zanden, 2021. "Two worlds of female labour: gender wage inequality in western Europe, 1300–1800," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(3), pages 611-638, August.
    5. Ericsson, Johan & Molinder, Jakob, 2018. "A Workers’ Revolution in Sweden? Exploring Economic Growth and Distributional Change with Detailed Data on Construction Workers’ Wages, 1831–1900," Lund Papers in Economic History 181, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    6. Jane Humphries & Benjamin Schneider, 2019. "Wages at the Wheel: Were Spinners Part of the High Wage Economy?," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _174, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    7. Gary, Kathryn, 2019. "The distinct seasonality of early modern casual labor and the short durations of individual working years: Sweden 1500-1800," Lund Papers in Economic History 189, Lund University, Department of Economic History.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    England; industrial revolution; industrious revolution; labour input; living standards; wages; building craftsmen;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J4 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N63 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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