The Industrial Revolution: The Most Dangerous Job By Eric Schlosser

The Industrial Revolution drastically changed the lives of nearly every American citizen. The Revolution marked the turning point where everyday life demonstrated improvement, but at a cost to American citizens. A large abundance of products manufactured rapidly fulfills demand, but as a repercussion machines will eventually supersede human labor. The unemployment rate today depicts one of the highest in the last half of a century at “9.60% in 2010” and represents a negative effect of the Industrial Revolution (Sicilia). A faster pace in the workforce has the advantage of mass production, but results in a high unemployment rate. Consequently, adults and teenagers must beg for jobs to satisfy their basic needs of survival. Before the Industrial Revolution, a domestic system dominated the workforce. A domestic system defends the idea that “workers make products in their own homes with materials supplied by entrepreneurs” (Domestic System). The most common occupations in the domestic system relate to agriculture, farming, and crafts. These …show more content…
Adults and teenagers get frustrated trying to find a job(s) because they put in the time and effort only to receive rejection in return. Therefore, many people accept any type of position/job offered to them, the article “The Most Dangerous Job”, by Eric Schlosser, shows an example of this. Schlosser describes the horrible conditions workers work in, in the meatpacking industry and the unethical practices the company takes part in. Schlosser observes that: “A large portion of these workers are illegal immigrants. They represent ‘independent contractors,’ employed not by the meatpacking firms but by sanitation companies. They earn hourly wages that are about one-third lower than those of regular production employees. And their work is so hard and so horrendous that words seem inadequate to describe it” (Schlosser