The Gilded Age, largely due to the minimal regulation of businesses by the government, resulted in a poor life for everyday Americans. There were no laws put in place to regulate how companies treated their employees, and with the growing size of businesses in the 1870s-1890s, it’s no surprise that many suffered. Many worked 12 hour days, 6 out of 7 days per week, year round. There were even night shifts because of the non-stop productivity in mills and mines. Those 12 hours were not only long, but dangerous. In fact, there were 25,000-30,000 deaths and over 1,000,000 injuries per year in factories and railroads alone. “Roughnecks”, as they were called, were people who worked to build the scaffolding for new skyscrapers. They worked at over
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Due to the almost negligible levels of pay, the amount of women and children working increased during the Gilded Age. Having just the father work simply wouldn’t provide the family with enough money to get by. Eventually, children ages 10-15 made up 18% of the labor force. Not only were they missing out on a proper education, but the factories in which they worked proved deadly to many.
In some cases, as many employees and machines as possible were crammed onto each floor, which made accidents and fires both more frequent and more deadly. In other areas of employment, like steel mills, workers often had to avoid spills of molten metal from above. Long woolen underpants acted as the sole protection against red-hot substances, and nothing was done to help the workers. There were company doctors, but the companies paid these doctors by taking from the already minimal pay of their employees. Not only did these companies steal money back from their poor laborers, but they gave the families of those workers who passed away almost no compensation money. Families, both those who suffered losses and those who didn’t, got nothing out of the hardship of the Gilded
Due to the almost negligible levels of pay, the amount of women and children working increased during the Gilded Age. Having just the father work simply wouldn’t provide the family with enough money to get by. Eventually, children ages 10-15 made up 18% of the labor force. Not only were they missing out on a proper education, but the factories in which they worked proved deadly to many.
In some cases, as many employees and machines as possible were crammed onto each floor, which made accidents and fires both more frequent and more deadly. In other areas of employment, like steel mills, workers often had to avoid spills of molten metal from above. Long woolen underpants acted as the sole protection against red-hot substances, and nothing was done to help the workers. There were company doctors, but the companies paid these doctors by taking from the already minimal pay of their employees. Not only did these companies steal money back from their poor laborers, but they gave the families of those workers who passed away almost no compensation money. Families, both those who suffered losses and those who didn’t, got nothing out of the hardship of the Gilded