Poor Working Conditions In America

Immigrants ventured to America to live the American dream. They wanted independence and freedom, but many were stripped of their freedom and thrown into factories and companies where they worked strenuous hours on back-breaking jobs, only to get paid a couple dollars. Without other options, these immigrants and other poor people were essentially slaves to the industry and were subjected to low wages, poor living conditions, long hours, and poor working conditions. The extremely low salaries forced workers to stay working to try and provide necessary items for their families. Food ran scarce in families and cramped houses and tenement apartments had little light, hardly any fresh air, and awful plumbing and waste management. Workers were forced to live in these harsh conditions, because this was the only thing they could afford. Families forced the young to go out and work and relied on them to earn half a dollar a day. Most families could not save any of their money, because they were living day to day, so getting out of these conditions were almost impossible. In fact, “As late as the year 1900, [in] the United States...Most industrial workers... earned from 20 to 40 percent less than the minimum deemed necessary for a decent life” (U.S. Dept. of State). This shows that most of these workers
could not even afford the necessities of life. Workers were forced to work excruciatingly long hours.
For example, “Elzbieta was used to working, but she found this change a hard one, for the reason that she had to stand motionless upon her feet from seven o’clock in the morning till half-past twelve, and again from one till half-past five” (Sinclair). however, workers suffered through the long hours of work to provide for their families. The situation continued for most workers until the government stepped in. During the 1900’s, industrial workers still worked 10-12 hours a day. Therefore, work took up most their day only leaving time to go back home, sleep ,and get back up, just to repeat the cycle again and
again.
Employees struggled with the harsh working conditions. People faced working conditions like Elzbieta, “...she was working in one of the dark holes, by electric light, and the dampness, too, was deadly--there were always puddles of water on the floor, and a sickening odor of moist flesh in the room” (Sinclair). Lack of government enforcement, caused the factories to be unsafe and unhealthy. They were also extremely filthy, loud, and the factories were sweltering. Automatic machines subdivided production, causing workers to constantly work on tedious, single tasks. The laborious jobs made the workers tiresome of the repetitive actions.
The American Dream was misleading for so many immigrants. Instead of freedom, they received jobs in factories that were demanding, both mentally and physically. Their compensation for hours and hours of was a miniscule fraction of what they deserved. But without choices, underprivileged people were forced with low wages, poor living conditions, extreme hours at work, and miserable working conditions. They wanted a better life, but most were never able to exceed their social status, because they were slaves to the industry.