In the late 1800s the United States experienced huge industrial growth which created many manufacturing jobs. While industrialists (Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie) were gaining extraordinary wealth during this time, factory workers paid a price for the nation’s economic progress. Many factory laborers worked twelve hour shifts, often without any breaks.

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The increasing demand for manufactured goods across the nation resulted in the building of many larger factories.  Many companies cared little about their employees and more about  making a profit. 

Working Conditions

• Industrial laborers worked upwards of 10 or 12 hours a day, six days a week.  There was no “job security” as workers could be fired at any time and for any reason.

• Most factories and mines had unsafe and unhealthy work conditions where accidents happened frequently.  If a worker was injured badly and could no longer perform their job they were fired or forced to quit.

• At the turn of the 20th century (1900), more than one million women were working outside the home.

• Many women were forced to join the industrial workforce to help pay for food, rent and clothing for their families.

• With no laws to regulate workers’ salaries, women earned about half of what men did for the same work.

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Women in the Workforce

• Families living in crowded city apartments, barely making enough money to pay rent and buy food, forced many children to enter the industrial workforce.

• Hundreds of thousands of children under 16 years old worked in factories, mines, and sweatshops to bring home extra money to help their struggling families.

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Children in the Workforce