Abstract
Burnette examines the seasonality of employment and wages for day-labourers at eight farms throughout England in the period 1835–1844. She measures the number of days worked by men, boys and female workers each week of the year. Most employment peaks occurred either at the hay-harvest or at the corn harvest, and peak employment was anywhere from 40 to 190 per cent more than average employment. Some farms used migrant labour for harvest, some used the labour of women and children and some relied on local men. Male wages were highly seasonal in Norfolk, rising 83 per cent during harvest, but were less seasonal elsewhere. At some farms, wages changed little during harvest. Changes in wages were not strongly correlated with changes in employment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Sokoloff and Dollar (1997), ‘Agricultural Seasonality’.
- 2.
Feinstein (1998), ‘Pessimism Perpetuated’.
- 3.
Blaug (1963), ‘The Myth of the Old Poor Law’; Boyer (1990), Economic History of the English Poor Law.
- 4.
Allen (2009), The British Industrial Revolution.
- 5.
Humphries and Weisdorf (2017), ‘Unreal Wages?’.
- 6.
Kussmaul (1981), Servants in Husbandry.
- 7.
Snell (1985), Annals of the Labouring Poor; Boyer (1990), Economic History of the English Poor Law; Goose (2006), ‘Farm service’.
- 8.
Sokoloff and Dollar (1997), ‘Agricultural Seasonality’.
- 9.
See Gielgud (1992), Nineteenth-Century Farm Women; Burnette (1999), ‘Labourers at the Oakes’; Verdon (2002), Rural Women Workers, and Burnette, ‘The Seasonality of English Agricultural Employment’.
- 10.
Burnette (2013), ‘The Seasonality of English Agricultural Employment’.
- 11.
Timmer (1969), ‘The Turnip’.
- 12.
Collins (1976), ‘Migrant Labour’.
- 13.
Computed as average weekly male-equivalent days of work divided by six. Male-equivalent days are total days worked by adult men, plus half of days worked by women and children.
- 14.
Servants were not immune to seasonality, though . Snell (1985), Annals of the Labouring Poor, uses poor law records to measure the seasonal patterns of unemployment for farm servants.
- 15.
Under the assumption that piece-rate payments are paid after work is done but not before, I take as the piece-rate work in week t the average of piece-rate payments in week t, t+1, and t+2.
- 16.
Sokoloff (1986), ‘Productivity Growth in Manufacturing’ makes the same assumption for US manufacturing. Burnette (2015), ‘The Paradox of Progress,’ establishes that women were approximately half as productive as men in US manufacturing, and I would not expect them to be more productive in agricultural work requiring strength. Wage ratios at these farms also suggest that women and boys were approximately half as productive as men.
- 17.
While Thorncombe is currently in Devon, it was located in Dorset in 1838. John Bragg had a small estate, renting only a few houses.
- 18.
Employment in the peak was 164 days, compared to an average week of 65 days.
- 19.
Timmer (1969), ‘The Turnip’.
- 20.
Timmer (1969), ‘The Turnip’, reports the total number of “monthly workers”. I report the sum of the total number of male-equivalent workers over all farms, where the total number of male-equivalent workers is days worked by men plus half of days worked by women and children in the week, divided by six.
- 21.
Armstrong (1988), Farmworkers, p. 23.
- 22.
Collins (1976), ‘Migrant Labour’, p. 40; Armstrong (1988), Farmworkers, p. 26.
- 23.
On August 28, 1841, 13s. was paid for “Hirring Money Harvest Men”. Norfolk R.O. WKC 5/250.
- 24.
The regression, on only eight observations, is: Per cent Increase in Total Employment = 2.10 + 0.48(Population Density) – 0.43(Per cent Increase in Male Wage). The coefficient on population density is significant at the 5 per cent level, but the coefficient on the wage is not.
Bibliography
Allen, R. 2009. The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Armstrong, A. 1988. Farmworkers in England and Wales: A Social and Economic History, 1770–1980. Ames: Iowa State University Press.
Blaug, M. 1963. The Myth of the Old Poor Law and the Making of the New. Journal of Economic History 23: 151–184.
Boyer, G. 1990. Economic History of the English Poor Law, 1750–1850. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Burnette, J. 1999. Labourers at the Oakes: Changes in the Demand for Female Day-Labourers at a Farm Near Sheffield During the Agricultural Revolution. Journal of Economic History 59: 41–67.
———. 2013. The Seasonality of English Agricultural Employment: Evidence from Farm Accounts, 1740–1850. In The Farmer in England, ed. R. Hoyle, 1650–1980. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.
———. 2015. The Paradox of Progress: The Emergence of Wage Discrimination in US Manufacturing. European Review of Economic History 19: 128–148.
Collins, E.J.T. 1976. Migrant Labour in British Agriculture in the Nineteenth Century. Economic History Review 29: 38–59.
Feinstein, C. 1998. Pessimism Perpetuated: Real Wages and the Standard of Living in Britain During and After the Industrial Revolution. Journal of Economic History 58: 625–658.
Gielgud, J. 1992. Nineteenth-Century Farm Women in Northumberland and Cumbria: The Neglected Workforce. University of Sussex, PhD Thesis.
Goose, N. 2006. Farm Service, Seasonal Unemployment and Casual Labour in Mid-nineteenth Century England. Agricultural History Review 54: 74–303.
Humphries, J., and J. Weisdorf. 2017. Unreal Wages? Real Income and Economic Growth in England, 1260–1850. CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP11999.
Kussmaul, A. 1981. Servants in Husbandry in Early Modern England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Snell, K.D.M. 1985. Annals of the Labouring Poor: Social Change and Agrarian England, 1660–1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sokoloff, K. 1986. Productivity Growth in Manufacturing during Early Industrialization: Evidence from the American Northeast, 1820–1860. In Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth, ed. S. Engerman and R. Gallman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sokoloff, K., and D. Dollar. 1997. Agricultural Seasonality and the Organization of Manufacturing in Early Industrial Economies: The Contrast Between England and the United States. Journal of Economic History 57: 288–321.
Timmer, C.P. 1969. The Turnip, the New Husbandry, and the English Agricultural Revolution. Quarterly Journal of Economics 83: 75–395.
Verdon, N. 2002. Rural Women Workers in Nineteenth-Century England: Gender, Work and Wages. Woodbridge: Boydell.
Wrigley, E.A. 2011. The Early English Censuses. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Burnette, J. (2018). Seasonal Patterns of Agricultural Day-Labour at Eight English Farms, 1835–1844. In: Hatcher, J., Stephenson, J. (eds) Seven Centuries of Unreal Wages. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96962-6_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96962-6_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96961-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96962-6
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)