Sat Sep 14 11:24:37 EDT 1996
EHS Abstract Submission
(c) 1996 EH.Net
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Name: Joyce Burnette
Email: burnettj at wabash.edu
Institution: Wabash College
Co-author: None
Title: Employment Patterns of Agricultural
Day-Laborers near Sheffield: Gender Differences and Changes
over Time, 1772-75 and 1831-45
Internet Address
of abstracted work: Not available on the Internet
By mail:
Joyce Burnette
Department of Economics
Wabash College
Crawfordsville, IN 47933-0352
Language: English
Abstract:
A unique wage book, containing payments to day-laborers at
the same farm in two different time periods, allows me to compare
the employment patterns of day-laborers in 1772-75 to those in
1831-45. I conclude that: 1) Female employment declined from 17
percent of total work-days in the 1770s to only 7 percent of
total work-days in 1831-45. This change appears to result from a
decline in the demand for women's services because the relative
wage women received fell as well. 2) Female employment was more
casual than male employment; most female employment occurred only
during a short harvest period. 3) The seasonality of male
employment changed between the two time periods, while that of
female employment did not. The peak of male employment shifted
from late summer to spring. Both the decline in female
employment and the shift in the seasonality of male employment
may be due to the increased use of fodder crops such as turnips,
which required more spring plowing.
Bibliography: Joyce Burnette, 1996, "Employment Patterns
of Agricultural Day-Laborers near Sheffield: Gender
Differences and Changes over Time, 1772-75 and
1831-45," Presented at the 56th annual meeting of
the Economic History Association, Berkeley, CA
Subject: T
Geographical Area: 4
Country/Region: England
Time Period: 6