Job tenure and unskilled workers before the Industrial Revolution: St Paul’s Cathedral 1672-1748

Meredith Paker, Judy Stephenson and Patrick Wallis

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: How were unskilled workers selected and hired in preindustrial labour markets? We exploit records from the rebuilding of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London (1672–1748) to analyze the hiring and employment history of over one thousand general building labourers, the benchmark category of ‘unskilled’ workers in long-run wage series. Despite volatile demand, St. Paul’s created a stable workforce by rewarding the tenure of longstanding workers. More senior workers received more days of work each month, preference when jobs were scarce, and the opportunity to earn additional income. We find the cathedral’s strategy consistent with reducing hiring frictions and turnover costs.

Keywords: labour markets; construction; unskilled labour; churn; job creation; tenure; early modern; construction workers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J21 J22 J23 N33 N63 N83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 78 pages
Date: 2022-07
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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/115595/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Job Tenure and Unskilled Workers before the Industrial Revolution: St Paul’s Cathedral 1672–1748 (2023)
Working Paper: Job tenure and unskilled workers before the Industrial Revolution: St Paul’s Cathedral 1672-1748 (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:115595

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