Changes In The Economy During The Gilded Age

The new industrializing economy during the Gilded Age led to cheaper goods. This allowed the living standards for the middle class and the rich to improve. However, those who remained poor saw very little change in their living standard as the gap between the rich and the poor continued to grow. This essay will analyze the changes in the social structure of the Gilded Age, and how the federal government was not as effective in solving any social problems because they favored Big Business. The Gilded Age brought an era of industrial development that changed the workforce completely. Employers for the first time started recruiting women and child, to work at a much lower wage. The number of working women nearly tripled. Children were often encouraged to work by their parents, to help make ends meet. Children had to work just as many hours as adults, usually twelve hours shifts. Children usually had the hardest jobs, because their small hands made it useful to get into tight spaces. Which is unfortunately, why they suffered the most injuries. The working conditions, were so extreme in some cases, they chained them to a single spot until, their shift was complete. So many children were robbed the chance to receive an education
The crop-lien system kept millions of farmers, mostly African Americans in long term debt, and limited their way of life, from where they can live, or how they can make a living. So, in a sense much did not change in the South. Sothern’s developed a way to kept their slaves through the crop-lien system. The African American’s lucky enough to not be indebted to farmers, were victimized by Jim Crow Laws, which separated the blacks and whites in public facilities. Which made voting nearly impossible, for African