8 – Low Wages & Bad Food
Although the growth of factories meant that there was more employment available, demand always outstripped supply by a large margin. As a result, there were long lines of men, women, and children desperate for work. Unscrupulous employers realized that they had hit a goldmine. They could hire as many people as they liked, force them to work extremely long hours, and pay them a pittance.
Despite working anywhere from 80-100 hours a week, unskilled laborers would be fortunate to receive $8-10. This worked out at around $0.10 an hour, and while skilled workers got more, they didn’t receive a substantially higher wage. It was common for women to receive half a man’s pay and children earned even less. Some children worked such long hours in dusty, dark conditions that they developed physical deformities. Labor Unions were ultimately formed to try and ensure workers, especially children, were no longer being exploited.
It wasn’t as if workers were well nourished either. The typical diet of a working-class person makes for grim reading. Breakfast consisted of plain bread with tea or coffee if they could afford it. Lunch might be a small piece of bread with some vegetables and ale on occasion. Dinner typically consisted of a thin vegetable broth, perhaps with a tiny portion of meat. In the UK, workers might have oatcake for breakfast and supper, with potato pie and bacon for dinner. Tea and butter were extremely rare delicacies. Overall, the standard diet was cheap carbohydrates and little protein.
Wealth flowed amongst a tiny percentage of the American population during the Gilded Age of the 1880s and 1890s. However, practically nothing trickled down to the working class as they were forced to graft, beg, and steal to get enough money to eat and afford rent. Those who had no employment had to panhandle to stay alive, and it was normal to go a couple of days without eating. While it is true that there are plenty of working-class people struggling today, it doesn’t compare to the terrible standards of yesteryear.