Question

The growth of the shirtwaist industry jumped significantly in the first decade of the twentieth century. who provided the labor supply for the production of shirtwaists? what kind of training did the workers receive? how did the industry's seasonality affect these workers and their wages. cite examples.

Answer 1

1. Thanks to industrialization the American economy boomed. Many new factories were opened that required many workers. But as American workers wanted better working conditions the owners often turned to immigrants to fill in their positions. The labor here was mostly provided by Italian and Jewish women who came to the United States.

2. They usually had not training whatsoever, all that they learnt they learnt by doing, extremely long shifts. They also worked on Saturdays, and when the bosses demanded on Sundays to. They did all this without overtime pay. They barely spoke any English and also were less prone to organized protests as they needed the money.

3.Industry's seasonality did nothing good for the workers. As we said before these women worked long shifts, usually 12 to 14 hours a shift, and had no overtime pay. During the peak season they also worked everyday for no extra pay and they were told that if they do not show up on Sunday to not bother coming in on Monday. 
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