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Portrait of Mats Olsson. Photo.

Mats Olsson

Head of the Department of Economic History, Professor

Portrait of Mats Olsson. Photo.

Men at work. Wages and industriousness in southern Sweden 1500–1850

Author

  • Kathryn Gary
  • Mats Olsson

Summary, in English

In this paper, we use a brand new dataset to estimate and compare wages for casually and annually hired workers in early modern southern Sweden. We ask whether men in either situation could have supported families on the basis of their earnings. Findings indicate that casual earners would have been able to out-earn annual employees for most of the period 1500–1850, but by the eighteenth century when food prices had risen their relative comfort likely reversed. Similarly, while it was possible for long periods of time for men to earn a respectability basket on the basis of approximately 150 days work this was no longer true by the end of the eighteenth century. By that time, both groups would have increasingly struggled and other family members needed to contribute. Not only is this account inconsistent with the standard story of a nineteenth century male breadwinner family but it suggests that industriousness might not have been prompted by a desire to consume new commodities but by the need to maintain basic standards.

Department/s

  • Department of Economic History

Publishing year

2020

Language

English

Pages

112-112

Publication/Series

Scandinavian Economic History Review

Volume

68

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Routledge

Topic

  • Economic History

Keywords

  • Wages
  • casual labour
  • annualy hired
  • Early Modern
  • Industrious revolution

Status

Published

Project

  • Wages, economic performance and inequality. Scandinavia in the ‘Little Divergence’ in Europe

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1750-2837