Seasonal Patterns of Agricultural Day-Labour at Eight English Farms, 1835–1844

Joyce Burnette ()
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Joyce Burnette: Wabash College

Chapter 8 in Seven Centuries of Unreal Wages, 2018, pp 195-225 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Burnette examines the seasonality of employment and wages for day-labourers at eight farms throughout England in the period 1835–1844. She measures the number of days worked by men, boys and female workers each week of the year. Most employment peaks occurred either at the hay-harvest or at the corn harvest, and peak employment was anywhere from 40 to 190 per cent more than average employment. Some farms used migrant labour for harvest, some used the labour of women and children and some relied on local men. Male wages were highly seasonal in Norfolk, rising 83 per cent during harvest, but were less seasonal elsewhere. At some farms, wages changed little during harvest. Changes in wages were not strongly correlated with changes in employment.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-96962-6_8

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