Workers During The Industrial Revolution

Life of Workers in the Industrial Revolution During the Industrial Revolution in Europe many things had changed in technology, such as the creation of machines. The Industrial Revolution caused people to make new machines such as the cotton gin and steam engine. With machines being made it also changed the lives of people, workers. Workers in Europe faced many obstacles such as their new lifestyle, horrible working conditions, and getting replaced by machines. There were some benefits for workers; The industrial system created more jobs for people. Also labor unions helped created an easier life for them and tax revenues improved living standards. Even though the beginning of the revolution caused employees to have many challenges; it also benefited them slowly as time passed.
As people were coming into cities to work in the factories, it also created a new lifestyle. The text states, “Moreover they lacked adequate housing, education, and police protection for the people who poured in from the countryside to seek jobs” (pg 290). Generally, this shows that from the 18th centuries’ Industrial Revolution created a harsh lifestyle for the workers since they had barely any housing, protection, and education. Additionally, another challenge was the bad working conditions in the factories. The textbooks reads, “Machines injured workers. A boiler might explode or a drive belt might catch an arm. And there was no government program to provide aid in case of injury” (pg 291). Furthermore showing that employees everyday faced problems with getting injured throughout their hours of labor and terrible working conditions. Lastly, workers started to get replaced by machines since they were more efficient. According to the text, “They watched their livelihoods disappear as machines replaced them” (pg 291). Similarly showing how their “livelihoods”, jobs, were replaced by