Unit 0 - Changes in Working Life

Slater's Mills would go to the country side and look for young men to work in their factories

Sometimes whole families were hired and given housing and education for their younger children

Children were expected to be useful and had to work sometimes alongside their parents in the mills

Mill towns popped up all over the Northeast (New England) and had homes, schools, butchers, tailors, food stores, etc... for the workers to live and shop at.

Workers worked 12-14 hour days six days a week

Lowell mills hired young, unmarried women from local farms.

The women lived in boarding houses and shared a room with other girls and were given three meals a day.

A girl could make $2 to $4 a week and would pay $1.25 for the room and board

The average girl would work four years at the mill before the left or got married

Many of the girls suffered breathing problems from inhaling the dust form the cotton and wool

Immigration lowered wages because there were more people looking for jobs than jobs available

People were working longer hours for less money

50,000 workers lost their jobs during the Panic of 1837

Trade unions tried to improve working conditions and increase worker's pay

Workers would strike or stop working if working conditions did not improve and pay increased

Some states passed a 10 hour work day as a result of the union's efforts