how much did coal miners get paid in the 1980s

Source: Shows the daily or monthly wages of 13 occupations in the treaty port. After undercutting the face, the collier turned the crank on a five-and-a-half-foot-long breast auger and pushed with all his weight to bore a hole high on the face. Source: BLS. For example, the 1920 volume gives rates in Ohio and Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana, and more. See table 164 for average annual wage. Managers concentrated on business decisions, such as arranging transportation and selling their product. Boys labored inside, sorting coal by size and removing rock. Every workingman was supposed to have his turn when it came to getting an empty coal car, because each collier deserved an equal opportunity to get his load to the weigh station. Knickerbockers, shirts, high school boy's suits, boy's fine suits, overcoats, winter coats, jackets, pajamas, rain coats, caps and hats, shoes. Constitution Avenue, NW See p. 193 of this. Heed no operators tale! Wages are shown in Brazilian milreis. By the 1940s, the United Mine Workers union had established better wages and somewhat safer conditions for miners, though a contentious relationship between workers and bosses persisted. Inside workers are further classified as (1) miners and laborers who cut and load coal onto conveyors or into mine cars, and (2) all other employees whose occupations relate to transportation, timbering, pumping, ventilation, and other general underground work. Shows salaries for officers, managers, clerks, operators, etc. The 1920 Montgomery Ward mail order catalog showed the price of. Prices are shown in German marks. Source: BLS. Shows the changes in wages of united Illinois coal miners following a labor agreement. Each table is for a different New Zealand city. Wages are shown in Spanish pesetas. Shows average dollar amount spent annually in categories such as food, clothing, maintenance of health, personal goods, furniture and more. 45-57. "In this region, I presume that a fee of $200 would be a pretty fair estimate of the surgeon's charge for operation and the after-treatment there would be between the operation and the death of the patient." Retail prices for brick, cement, lumber of various kinds, window glass, shingles, nails and more. Shows the average daily wages of workers in various industries in Riga as well as other parts of Latvia. The need to correct these abuses led the UMWA to demand the employment of a check-weigh man whom the miners could trust. Full chapter extends from pp. Wages are shown in German marks. Montgomery Ward catalog shows prices of radios and radio supplies on 60+ pages. In the US, coal mining is a shrinking industry. By 2003 that number had dipped to just 70,000. April 26, 1942. Washington, D.C. Email powered by MailChimp (Privacy Policy & Terms of Use), The American Twins, Harpers Weekly, 1874, African American History Curatorial Collective. Data is broken out byoccupation, sex and district. Tells cost of public transportation and railway fares as well. Phone (573) 882-0748. Shows monthly wages based on the ocean routes traveled: San Francisco to points west, and New York City to points south and east. Shows family expenditures by category. Gasoline cost an average21.7 per gallon in 1929. Email: [email protected] Smoke from explosions of black powder,the reek of oil lamps, and the pervading coal dust made breathable air something of an obsession with the miner, one miner recalled. Covers occupations in the building trades, metal trades, printing trades, coal mining and more. Engineers used anemometers to measure airflow within mines. Source: U.S. Dept of Agriculture. View object record Steam whistle With industrialization, workers lost control of when to start, eat, and end their day. Managers liked immigrants because they worked for low wages. Then, with their lamps casting a dim yellow light on the dark hillside, the men and boys disappeared one by one into the hole, like ants entering a colony. Other enslaved African Americans escaped from the salt works to Ohio, a free state only 60 miles away. During the early 1900s, roof falls in the bituminous coal mines killed an average of 886 workers every year, as compared with the 274 deaths per year caused by explosions and fires. The wage data is broken out by sex. By 1854, forty-six percent of all American pig iron had been smelted with anthracite coal as a fuel, and by 1860 anthracite's share of pig iron was more than fifty-six . See the. Table 25 shows additional breakouts for skilled and white collar workers by region (. This was the room and pillar method of mining common in the Appalachian bituminous coalfields. Shows expenditures among rural Virginia families for food, housing, clothing, automobiles, health insurance, recreation, personal items and more. Boys younger than 12 often worked beside their fathers underground because, in many communities, it was the only paying job available. Nothing was the answer, nothing but the miserable life he and his family endured living inrented shanties hard on the railroad tracks. Expressed in dollars and also as a percentage of the property value. Shows wages and hours of workers in the cotton industry over a 23 year period. Wages for workers engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel goods, machinery, railway rolling stock, boilers, vehicles, aircraft, electrical apparatus, scientific instruments and more. Table 26 shows wages for laborers with board for every year from 1780-1937; the, In the 1920s, people could sell their blood to hospitals for$35-50 perquart. Postal Service. Dresses, dresses (in color), coats, bonnets and coats, hats, shoes, girl's toys. Wages on pages34-40. As former miner Gary Bentley of Kentucky remarked in a recent New York Times article, Its not going to make a comeback. Income statistics of full time professional women were published in study by the Association of Business and Professional Women. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (July 1930). On one hand, the miners discipline and death-defying courage made them ideal industrial soldiers; on the other hand, the qualities the men forged in underground combat with the elementsbravery, fraternal fealty, and group solidarityhardened them for aboveground combat with their employers. Describes the labor policy of Mexico in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. Dollars. Report published in 1923 tells wages by race and by industry. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review, March 1932, The "Service Industries" chapter in this source breaks out wages paid to workers in hospitals, hotels, bowling alleys, theaters, parks, churches, country clubs, athletic clubs and yacht clubs, advertising agencies, banks, laundries, schools/colleges, and restaurants (making no distinction between waiters, cooks or bus boys). Frank Keeney left no account of how he felt the day he entered the mine portal, but one imagines the dread that might have accompanied a ten-year-old boys first trip into the hole. Hourly Rate. Shows prices for articles of clothing sold in 35 retailer shops in twelve cities. Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson is back. Lists annual pay for individuals occupying administrative and supervisory positions in the executive and judicial branches. During the 1910s and 1920s, minimum wage laws were adopted by a handful of states and generally applied only to women and children. Shows pay tables based on years of service,for Army and Navygenerals, admirals, colonels, lieutenants, captains, ensigns, etc. Source: Shows the average hourly wage of a variety of jobs both in and outside of Paris. The Miners' Strike of 1984 was a turning point in British history. Patterns for sewing children's clothes, stockings, union suits, toys, bicycles. The deal, brokered by. Source: This source is entirely about compensation of state and local government employees in New York. Source: BLS, Shows the hourly, daily, and weekly earnings in Milan for various industries. Source: Source: Canada Department of Labor report. Retreat mining was a risky business, but at least the miners engineered these cave-ins. Farm laborers in Missouri earned an average $41.90/month in 1921. Shows data for Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroitand otheradditional cities on pages5-9. Source: Shows wages by occupation in Belfast, Cork, Glasgow, Dundee, Cardiff, London, Manchester and more. Typewriters, school supplies, office supplies, fountain pens, more fountain pens, books, drawing sets, home office furniture. Shows wages for common and semi-skilled workers in manufacturing and construction industries, in baking, agriculture, metal and printing trades. A trapper like Frank had to pay close attention to his duties, opening and closing the doors regularly to keep the air moving and to allow coal cars to pass back and forth. In 1928, halfof all families had a combined family income of $2000 or less. Boy's: A strong, skilled coal loader might fill five or more cars in a day. Many of the reports can be found in. Source: BLS. Source: Lists results of 22 studies that show the % of family budget spent in various categories (rent, food, health, etc.). This booklet shows prices for hotels and amenities such astelephone, restaurant meals,haircuts, bath house, etc. Separate listings forinspectors, police superintendents, captains, sergeants, privates, etc. Its an era of company town labor we are not likely to see return as automation and renewable energy continue to render these kinds of occupations obsolete. They designed complex ventilation systems with fans and interior doors to keep dangerous gases from causing explosions. Shows the average daily wages paid to masons, electricians, bricklayers, bakers, blacksmiths and more. Source: BLS, Shows the average retail prices of staple foodstuffs in Madrid, Spain. They provided their own equipment and often hired assistants; managers extended credit for supplies like dynamite. Shows forty pages of incomedata with numerous breakouts. Wages are shown in French francs. Source: Click "more" for direct links to each occupation. Includes breakouts by state, source of income, and more. The craftiness and deftness of the best colliers was most evident when they performed the riskiest task of all. Compares 1927 and 1913 earnings. Wages are shown in pounds, shillings, and pence. Before the 1920s most miners were independent contractors. Source: BLS. Source: BLS, Shows clothes prices paid by working class families in Great Britain. . Source: Covers elementary schools and junior high schools in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. Shows average wages alongside a cost of living index for Germany between 1929-1942. Some New York City teacher and principal salaries are shown on the following page in Table 42. Source: BLS. Coal operators often provided services like company stores. Survey covered only white families over a certain. Prices are shown in Japanese yen. Discussion covers the history of minimum wage legislation in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Canada, South Africa, Mexico, France, Norway, Argentina, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Uruguay, Hungary, Poland, Italy, and Rumania (Romania) up to 1928. For hours on end, a trapper boys ears would take in the strange sounds made by creaking timbers, rattling coal cars, clopping mules, and thudding blasts of explosions deep in the mine, while his eyes would behold surreal sights, like the white bones of ancient fish skeletons and the remains of tropical plants when they were illuminated by the miners lamps. Wages are shown in Dutch guilder. There is also a table showing, Shows the value of multiple currencies in US dollars in the years of. Details the prices of appliances, furniture, and more household items on pp. After the Civil War, industrialization meant a nearly limitless demand for anthracite and bituminous coal, and hundreds of thousands of new jobs spurred a population boom in the region, which stretches from western New York state to Alabama. Rompers, night gowns, baby shoes, accessories (diapers, baby bottles, etc. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (September 1932). The union was very important to miners. Manufacturing wages -- SEE box further below. Arranged by occupation and then by city and year. Shows the wages of Japanese mining workers by gender and age. Every three or four hundred feet, passageways were cut, creating narrower, corridor-like rooms that led to a coal face where each miner and his buddy worked in their own room. The colliers left large pillars of coal standing as they cut the face forward and sideways through breakthroughs that led to parallel rooms. Iowa farm houses averaged around 8 rooms and had an average value of $3,043. The survey covered 114 different cotton mills in 12 different state, and generally divides tables by occupation, sex, and year or occupation, sex, and state. Source: Historical chart shows salaries of members of the U.S. Congress, along with dates of enactment and statutory authority for each pay increase. Miners spent their entire shift underground, taking lunch, drinks, and snacks with them. As a rule he is paid so much per car, and a definite number of cars constitute a day's workthe number varying in different minesaveraging from five to seven, equaling from twelve to fifteen tons of coal. Wages are shown in both German marks and contemporary U.S. dollars. Source: BLS. There was little prospect then that coal would be in demand as it is today or that the daily wage of miners would be multiplied 8 to 10 times by 1974. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of various foodstuffs in 10 large German cities. Wages are shown in Brazilian milreis. Wages are shown in Italian lire. Shows the income of each member of a Zurich household and the amount that household spent on various necessities like food, clothing, rent, etc. Dining room furniture, silverware, dish sets. 5-6. View object record Miner's hat, about 1930 Coal mining wages - Illinois, 1920. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of food and commodities in various cities throughout south Manchuria. Use the following hyperlinks to see values for AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY. Shows the average weekly wages of various occupations in 8 different industries in Budapest. Tables are broken down by type of job, gender of employee, and geography. Shows average wages by industry in both rubles and US currency. Data gathered by the National Industrial Conference Board using foreign government sources. Wages are shown in Spanish pesetas. The legislature rejected all proposals for reform, however. Source: Median wages for butlers, chauffeurs, gardeners, furnace men and "house men" employed to work in private households in Philadelphia in the late 1920s. Source: The tables show pay for employees engaged in the manufacture of automobiles, trucks, car bodies and parts. Wages are shown in Sweden kronor. Engineers working for Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Co. used this model to visualize the coal seams and design their mines. Prices are shown in Spanish pesetas. Managements steam whistle now set the times. Shows average charge per case for appendicitis, childbirth, heart troubles, cancer, dental problems and more. Wages shown in 1930 US dollars. Source: BLS, Shows the average wages for an 8 hour work day in Riga within various industry groups. From, Earnings forveterinarians with governmentjobs, in scientific labs, in sales, or working as. This is a New Zealand government document. Source: BLS. Wages are shown in Mexican pesos. Covers elementary, junior high, and high school teachers in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. 2-4. Purchasing power is represented in its equivalence in horses, wheat, the yearly wages of a skilled tradesperson, and others. Source: U.S. Department of Commerce. Source: For each college, this table shows tuition for residents and non-residents by course of study. Most trapper boys learned how to overcome their fears by watching and listening to the colliers who went underground with them. In West Virginia's colliers, miners were paid 49 cents per ton of clean coal, compared with 76 cents in the unionized mines of Ohio. Source: BLS. 7-8 in: Extensive, 219-page report published in the Bureau of Labor StatisticsBulletin no. Source: BLS, Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. Prices on pp. Source: BLS Bulletin no. Source: Describes the labor policy of Australia in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. Covers more than 1,200 cities. Boys frequently were assigned the most-dangerous jobs. Chain store prices for a pack of Lucky Strike, Chesterfield, Camel, Old Gold or Piedmont. See quartile, "Women in Alabama industries: a study of hours, wages and working conditions," Women's Bureau Bulletin #34 (. Wages are expressed in both foreign currency and dollars. Source: Cost of living and family expenditures in Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas. Wages are shown in shillings. Wages are shown in French francs. West Virginias mine safety laws were the weakest in the nation. Typically, workers could get an advance on pay, in company-issued paper currency, called scrip, or tokens to buy goods. Paragraph below the table describes the weekly earnings of blast furnace workers, smelters, rolling mill operators, and foundry workers in both Pounds Sterling and U.S. The study pays particular attention to women who made less than the average wage. Source: Appendix in. 467. In West Virginias colliers, miners were paid 49 cents per ton of clean coal, compared with 76 cents in the unionized mines of Ohio. "The fees and cost of books, instruments, board, room, laundry and incidentals will hardly be less than $400 per session of thirty-two weeks." Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of foodstuffs and other staple goods in the Mexican capital. The strike was officially called to a halt on March the 3rd 1985. Boys learned the mining craft from their fathers and later passed this knowledge on to their own sons. by RACE Shows the average daily wages Greek workers were receiving in metal mines, lignite mines, smelting and refining plants, and quarries. The average hourly pay for a Coal Mine Worker is $21.49. Source: BLS. Includes the states of RI, NJ, OH, DE, OK, MO, GA, TN, AR, KY, SC, AL and MS. Coal miner Bill Keating composed the ballad Down, Down, Down to break my loneliness and to show my mule I was in a friendly mood., President John L. Lewis, United Mine Workers, convention badge, 1936. Taken from the 1921 U.S. Department of Agriculture Yearbook, starting on page 804. Wages are shown in German marks. HOUSING, FARMS and UTILITIES Source: BLS, Shows the wage scale for various occupations for Japanese and Chinese workers in Dairen. Kanawha County coal seams were relatively thick, so men could often stand or just bend slightly, but some coal cutters had to work bent over all day in low coal. After sorting out the slate fragments and loading the car, the miner attached his brass check to the side of the car and pushed it out into the main tunnel, where mules or a small locomotive pulled the load out of the mine to the weigh station and then to the tipple, where the coal would be prepared and funneled into railroad cars. Covers the states of NH, VT, MA, CT, KY, SC, AL, MO, KS, IA and OH. By law, judges earned 1,500 per year. Source: Howard University, States "the average student probably spends about $700 per year for a college education" and shows, This source shows the cost of funerals and burial in 18 states and in 10 major cities. Source: Missouri State Dept of Agriculture. Priced by the single unit. Prices are shown in contemporary US dollars. 8836. Bathroom: Source: One-page table shows 80 years of average retail prices for bread, milk, eggs and other common food items. When he lit the fuse, the lead miner hollered, Fire in the hole, and scuttled out of the room with his buddy. Industrial home work was most common in clothing manufacturing and tobacco industries (rolling cigars, etc.) Also shows the averagecost to rent farm landor pastures by the acre, by county. Study showed how much a family of five would need to live in Washington DC in 1920. During the first three decades of the 20th century, African Americans comprised about 25 percent of all southern West Virginia miners. Average earnings by occupation and districts. Keep your hand upon the dollar, For best detail, see the full chapters on. Wages shows in 1930 US dollars. in FOREIGN COUNTRIES, FOOD Pianos, violins, guitars & banjos, accordions, other musical instruments. Shows brand names. Tomorrow night at 9pm PBSs American Experience will broadcast The Mine Wars, based on the book. ), carriages, cribs, high chairs, etc. After the top fell, they returned to break and load the fallen coal before another layer of the top came crashing down with a tremendous roar. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. Wages are shown in Austrian kronen. Owners claimed property rights and managerial entitlements over the workplace. Tip: use the search tool to look for words like cents or rate. Covers New York City, New Jersey towns, Fall River MA, Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Portland OR. $180 - $5k. 613. Wages are shown in Danish ore. Coal diggers gave up some of their hard-earned pay to aid fellow miners when they were sick or injured, and when a mine exploded, they risked their lives to rescue the survivors trapped inside. One statute required operators to print maps of their mines, but it excluded any provisions for enforcing this requirement. 365-372. A miners compulsion to load as much coal as possible was tempered by experience, however. Table shows average cost to rent houses by the number of rooms in each of 25 New Zealand cities and towns. Report published in 1923 gives wages for Arkansas women by occupation and race. Shows salaries for teachers ofkindergarten, elementary school, junior high, high school, vocational school, college, and normal schools (teacher training academies). In the 1920s decade, 8% to 12%of peopleaged18-21enrolled incollege. Wages are shown in contemporary U.S. dollars. Scroll forward and back to see the various cities for which average food prices are available. Coal miners homemade prosthetic leg, about 1950. Before the days of electric cars, many boys served as mule drivers. 90%. Published by the National Industrial Conference Board. Taken from Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. Report published in 1921 tells wages for women working in offices, in meat and poultry packing, restaurants, food manufacturing, clothing manufacturing, laundries, and more. When young Frank Keeney walked through a mine portal in 1892, perhaps an older miner, maybe a neighbor, offered him some words of consolation or, at least, instruction as they traveled in and outof the mine on what was known as a man trip. Or he might have heard some words of warning from the older boys who led the mules and coal cars back and forth through the door he tended. Source: BLS, Shows the cost of foodstuffs and other necessities in Greece. The coal industry required more labor than southern West Virginia could supply. over the years. Veteran colliers knew competitive individualism bred greed, hostility, thievery, and a disregard for mine safety. This table covers pages 357-360 in this source. Source: BLS, Shows the daily wages of workers in the glass factories of northern France. Wages are shown in Japanese yen. Another statute required employers to hire pit bosses to examine every working place in the mine, but only as often as practicable. A third rule required the managers to water the coal dust, but only when they detected a dangerous level of gas. Wages are shown in Spanish pesetas. Source: Compares 1922 to1940 wage rates for a variety of RR jobs, pp. Source: Discusses average prices American families were paying for medical care and hospital trips. Religious organizations -Salaries, 1929in. As the men removed one pillar after another, the wooden posts used to support the mine top would be strained as the roof started getting heavy. The wood would then creak and groan and then splinter as the miners heard the roof working above their heads and planned their retreat accordingly. Source: Teachers' salaries and salary trends in 1923. Source: Shows wages, hours and earnings for mechanics, pipe fitters, welders, tinsmiths derrick men, drillers, firemen, engineers and more. Source: Women's Bureau Bulletin #85. how much did coal miners get paid in the 1950s. Women's and children's clothing - Newcomb, Endicott, and Co. Retail prices for imported merchandise, 1922, Rates charges for hospital services, 1928, Health care costs and expenditures, 1923-1925, Average charges by type of medical complaint, 1929-1930, Public colleges - Tuition by institution, 1921-1922, Private colleges - Tuition by institution, 1921-1922, Howard University School of Medicine - Tuition & expenses, 1920-21, The Undertaker's Trade - Services and Prices, Average funeral cost by state and city, 1927, Cost to mail a letter or postcard, 1863-present, Vacation to Yellowstone National Park - Prices in 1920, Consumption expenditures per capita, 1901-1956, Cost of living increase in U.S. large cities, 1913-1941, Income needed for "minimum subsistence" in cities, 1929, Minimum income needed to live in Washington DC, 1920, Cost of living among wage earners, Detroit, 1921, Lynchburg, VA - Cost of living and expenditures, 1928-1929, Ability to pay and standard of living among farmers, 1926, Farm family expenditures in selected states, 1922-1924, Average annual costs of keeping work horses, 1921, Virginia - Cost of living and expenditures, 1928-1929, Calculator: Present-day purchasing power of a historic dollar amount, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, Canada - Food and rents by province and city, 1923, Canada - Prices of staple foods, fuel and rent in 1913, 1920-1927, Retail Prices in Czechoslovakia, 1914-1921, Clothing prices - Great Britain, 1914-1921, New Zealand - Food and cigarette retail prices by city, 1921. equal opportunity/access/affirmative action/pro-disabled and veteran employer.

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