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The rural labour market in the early nineteenth century: women’s and children’s employment, family income, and the 1834 Poor Law Report[Note 1. I acknowledge my gratitude to Peter King at University ...]
Author(s) -
Verdon Nicola
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
the economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.014
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1468-0289
pISSN - 0013-0117
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0289.00222
Subject(s) - blueprint , child labour , wage , rural area , labour economics , economics , wage labour , agriculture , demographic economics , sociology , economic growth , political science , law , geography , mechanical engineering , chemistry , archaeology , engineering , gold mining
This article revisits a familiar source–the 1834 Poor Law Report–to provide a fresh overview of the regional map of female and child labour in the early nineteenth–century countryside. Patterns of employment in domestic industry and agricultural labour (particularly haymaking, weeding, and harvesting) are investigated alongside labourers’ contributions to the annual family income. The results indicate that orthodox accounts of rural employment and wage patterns should not be accepted uncritically. Adopting an empirical approach to the qualitative evidence contained in the report offers a blueprint for future analysis of similar contemporary printed sources.