Why Were Workers Unhappy With Their Working Conditions Dbq

The industrialization period was a time of anguish for the working class. Though many disagree whether or not these were troubling times for the workers, the statistics show that many laborers were unhappy with their working conditions and saw them unfit. These troubling times were caused in part by the working conditions, wages, and unsafe living conditions.
The state of working conditions played a major part in the suffering of the working class. Most workers would work sixty hour weeks, having 10 hour work days. While one carpet-mill operator suggested that a sixty hour work week was “plenty of time for any man…” (source 1), many others believed they were overworked by at least 2 hours a day. Workers would undergo ten hour work days, which involved them standing on their feet the whole time, allowed only a five minute break, and using machinery that during the time was faulty. Due to these factors, there were several accidents …show more content…
Source 2 shows the wages and cost of living of ten different families. Five of the ten families’ living expenses exceeded their monthly income. Many husbands began sending their wives to work for another source of income, though even then, some families were still exceeding their income. Along with the wives, sons were also sent to work, as young as age fourteen. Women were given a much lower salary than that of men, some working for less than twenty-five cents a day. Source 7 states “institutions give out work to the women with the professed object of helping them, at which they can scarcely earn enough to keep them from starving…” Some families were able to save money for when times when work was not steadily available. One English family whose income was $1,720 a month was able to save a little over $1,000 each month. Most were not allowed that luxury, and many families remained in debt for several years, and some their whole