Working time in the pre-industrial iron industry. The Royal Artillery Factories of Liérganes and La Cavada (1765-1794)

Mikel Navarro-Satrustegui

Rivista di storia economica, 2025, issue 3, 255-283

Abstract: This paper contributes to the literature on the length of the working year in pre-industrial Europe by analyzing the Royal Artillery Factories of Liérganes and La Cavada in Northern Spain, which produced cast-iron cannon. Using payroll records from 1765 to 1794, the study reconstructs full working years and finds a heavy influence of seasonality of labour. Even though the potential working year was long, labour demand was irregular, high in winter and low in summer. This resulted in less than 20% of workers exceeding 200 days of work annually, and only about 10% working over 250 days. As a result, even for relatively stable workers, the mean working year was about 200 days. However, in the reverberatory furnaces, where labour was not seasonal, it could reach 250 days. Summer employment opportunities in agriculture or construction could have extended the working year for some workers.

Keywords: Working time; seasonality; preindustrial iron industry; Northern Spain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mul:jrkmxm:doi:10.1410/118754:y:2025:i:3:p:255-283

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