how much did coal miners get paid in the 1980s

Source: page 13 in. Source: Covers elementary schools and junior high schools in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. Shows the average weekly hours and hourly wages for workers in the boot and shoe industry. After a temporary escape to attend grammar school, it was the world he reentered in 1900 as an eighteen-year-old man willing and able to load coal for a miners pay. Source: BLS, Shows the annual earnings of manual and nonmanual workers in Sweden. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (July 1930). Source: Monthly price list for Ralph's Grocery Company, which sold only in the Los Angeles area. Source: BLS, Shows the hourly wages for men and women in Finnish unions. The workday ended at 5:30 in the evening when the sunlight had already faded over the mountains. Careless miners always fail. Shows average value of mortgaged homes, average debt remaining on the mortgages and average interest paid on mortgages annually, for 68 cities of 100,000 or more population. This source lists actual salaries paid to administrators in various lines of business. Data gathered by the National Industrial Conference Board (a group of industry associations) which used European government publications for information. Wages are shown in French francs. Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. His pictures also reflect a variegated experience in Appalachia, countering stereotypes by depicting middle-class miners, racial diversity, and community pride. Miners would lie on their backs and use a pick to undercut the coal. It is not yet available to read online; check your local library for a printed copy. Source: BLS. Shows the hourly and weekly wages for 12 principal industries throughout Germany. Issues of Telephone engineer & management detail rates for telephone service in many states. Prices are shown in either contemporary US dollars or Chinese coppers. West Virginias mine safety laws were the weakest in the nation. In the late 1800s mining was rough physical labor. The laborer's work is often made difficult by the water and rock which are found' in large quantities in coal veins. of Agriculture report. Covers elementary, junior high, and high school teachers in American cities with populations of 2,500 or more. About half of the surveyed penal institutions gave prisoners some compensation, based on its use as incentive toward good work and better behavior, and to provide the convict with a small way to provide for his family. 8836. by SEX Furniture, bookcases, carpets and rugs, curtains, hanging lamps, lightbulbs, table and floor lamps, clocks. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin #682, chapter 9: "Monthly earnings of professional engineers," pp. Source: Hotel rates can often be found within the advertisements throughout the pages of the. Source: BLS. Table shows average tax by acre for each state in 1929. 664. $30.30. (Click image for detail), Marie Concannon, Government Information Librarian Wages are shown in Sweden kronor. Source: One-page table shows 80 years of average retail prices for bread, milk, eggs and other common food items. Hourly Rate. Source: BLS, The explanation states: "real wage rates have been computed by the Statistical Office on the basis of the official German cost-of-living index. Shows breakouts for automobile manufacture, cigar making, boots/shoe making, men's clothing, iron/steel and more. Board a ship to cross the wave; Wages are based on the average weekly full-time positions from large cities. Wages are shown in contemporary U.S. dollars. In the words of the popular song Miners Lifeguard, written by a miner from Oak Hill, West Virginia: A miners life is like a sailors, 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. Wages are shown in Italian lire. Wages are shown in Brazilian milreis and contemporary US dollars. For best detail, see the full chapters on. Tools and hardware: The study pays particular attention to women who made less than the average wage. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wages for workers in different occupations in French coal mines. Includes clam, lobster, oyster industries and more. Shows data on the number of nursing school graduates from 1880 to 1929 as well as salary information. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of foodstuffs and other staple goods in the Mexican capital. Shows wage rates for engineers, conductors, passenger baggage men, coal passers, firemen, switch tenders, hostlers, signalmen, station agents, telegraphers, machinists, car cleaners, and more. Wages are shown in German marks. Shows price list of one California retailer. It was a dreadful experience Booker T. Washington never forgot. Source: U.S. Dept of Labor, Compares affordability of food and consumer goods from one year to the next and provides price. Discusses household expenditures for electricity, and estimates the number of homes that had various electrical appliances (radios, refrigerators, irons, etc.) He also absorbed the habits and traditions that gave pick and shovel miners a remarkable degree of freedom. Links to government documents and primary sources listing retail prices for products and services, as well as wages for common occupations. Tomorrow night at 9pm PBSs American Experience will broadcast The Mine Wars, based on the book. 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. Shows average value per acre for all real estate with buildings, and the value of land alone, by county, for six states: MA, CT, RI , ME, VT and NH. Includes many brand names. House paints, paint brushes, doors & windows, wrench sets, home improvement tools, steel safes, fencing, garden tools, wrenches & other assorted tools, water pumps, plows, milk cans, gasoline-powered generators. Shows the weekly wages of various occupations in Swiss farming as well as the daily wages of day laborers. Source: BLS. Priced by the single unit. Source: Source: Canada Department of Labor report. Shows the average weekly wages of NY factory workers every month over a 14 year period. Wages are shown in both Hungarian gold crowns and contemporary U.S. dollars. Regardless of what their state government might or might not do to protect them, the miners of West Virginia had to rely on themselves and their buddies, rather than on company fire bosses and state mine inspectors, whose numbers were few and whose visits were infrequent. Copy. Prices are shown in Hungarian crowns. Wages are shown in Danish ore. COST OF LIVING Tells cost of public transportation and railway fares as well. Shows the average weekly wages of various occupations in 8 different industries in Budapest. In 1900 almost 2 percent of Americans were coal miners. Shows data for unskilled male laborers in each of 13 industries, as well as an overall average. Part of a section on Negro women's wages. Source: American Druggist, January 1923 issue. Source: BLS. Appalachias traditionally small, locally owned mines started merging with larger energy firms in the 1960s, and by 1970 bituminous coal employment had dropped to 140,000 people from its 1923 peak of 740,000. Wages are shown in Czech krone. More passenger air fares from other sources: Household items: The need to correct these abuses led the UMWA to demand the employment of a check-weigh man whom the miners could trust. Wages are expressed in both foreign currency and dollars. Besides know-how, the miners depended upon instinct and luck. Table shows average cost to rent houses by the number of rooms in each of 25 New Zealand cities and towns. Wages are shown in both Italian lire and contemporary U.S. dollars. Wages are shown in Mexican pesos. Stealing another mans coal was considered a terrible crime. A thief could commit this offense easily, simply by removing one miners brass check from his coal car and replacing it with his own; but the miners often detected this kind of trickery and banded together to demand the thiefs termination. Source: Shows lawyers' incomes instates and regions, by size of community served, by the age of the lawyer, number of years in practice, etc. Source: BLS. White familiesspent an average $103.71/yearon medical care around 1928-1931. Wages are shown in contemporary US dollars. After checking in, they climbed up a steep trail from the office to the portal of a mine. Source: BLS. along with the country of origin, value in that country, transportation charges, duty charges and retail price in the U.S. Includes a photo of most items. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (September 1932). Dollars. Source: National Education Association of the United States. Wages are shown in both German marks and contemporary U.S. dollars. Shows salaries at the state, county and city levels. Time became important to managers as they changed their labor model. Source: Discusses average prices American families were paying for medical care and hospital trips. Source: Lists costs of running a farm, including costs of power, labor, insurance, interest on loans, etc. The carpenters, mechanics, mule skinners, and other mine employees, who enjoyed no such latitude, were known by pit-face miners as company men. By contrast, the pit-face miners saw themselves as autonomous workmen who labored for themselves as well as for the company. Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson is back. Source: Compares 1922 to1940 wage rates for a variety of RR jobs, pp. Provides detailed breakouts by occupation. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wages of manual work occupations in Barcelona, Spain. At dawn, the workers reported to the payroll clerk in the company office, where they were handed numbered brass checks to attach to each coal car they loaded. Lists the price of bricks, flooring, framing lumber, rough boards, Portland cement, roofing material, house paint and more. Compensationby job titlefor New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, San Francisco and more cities. See quartile, "Women in Alabama industries: a study of hours, wages and working conditions," Women's Bureau Bulletin #34 (. Coal miners homemade prosthetic leg, about 1950. 294-295. Describes the labor policy of New Zealand in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. This calculator allows you to compare the buying power of wages earned at different points in history. The region's first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free. Montgomery Ward catalog shows prices of radios and radio supplies on 60+ pages. Shows monthly wages based on the ocean routes traveled: San Francisco to points west, and New York City to points south and east. Wages shown in litas, and US dollars in parentheses. Source: BLS. Unskilled labor hired by cities for construction, repair or cleaning of streets. A paid subscription is required for full access. In 1907, West Virginia appointed John Nugent as superintendent of immigration. Source: Shows the earnings per hour and week for sawmill workers over a 20 year period. April 26, 1942. 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. To view an issue of interest, select it from the list and click View. Source: BLS Bulletin no. The deal, brokered by. Dining room: Some picked slate and other debris out of the coal on fast-moving conveyor belts. A Latvian immigrant and devout member of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Old Believers, Michael Simon wore this cross as he labored in Pennsylvania coal mines. Tables are broken down by occupation, sex, and state. Separate listings forinspectors, police superintendents, captains, sergeants, privates, etc. In some cases, when a shot backfired out of the hole, it ignited coal dust or gas in the miners room and sent fire bursting into the main tunnel, where it could burn or suffocate the mules and their drivers passing through. Check the, Shows the daily rate of Utah coal mining workers in a variety of jobs and occupations. But Appalachian coal production peaked in 1918. It may be necessary to read the chapters pertaining to the country, but you can find the actual minimum wages in the discussion. 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. Broken out by men's and women's jobs. 25-38. Source: Missouri State Dept of Agriculture. Washington, D.C. Email powered by MailChimp (Privacy Policy & Terms of Use), The American Twins, Harpers Weekly, 1874, African American History Curatorial Collective. Some New York City teacher and principal salaries are shown on the following page in Table 42. The pit closures the miners had fought so hard to prevent began in earnest. Shows the income of each member of a Zurich household and the amount that household spent on various necessities like food, clothing, rent, etc. 5-6. Also shows rowboat and pack horse rental rates, cost for guided tours, and transportation fares. The 1920 Montgomery Ward mail order catalog showed the price of. Living room: Shows typical pay in stock companies, dramas, musical comedies, vaudeville and screen, from extras to Hollywood stars. Other enslaved African Americans escaped from the salt works to Ohio, a free state only 60 miles away. Sporting goods: Shows the changes in wages of united Illinois coal miners following a labor agreement. Phone (573) 882-0748. Wages are shown in French francs. Girl's: Source:Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis. In the hand-loading era, an underground miners workplace, usually called a room, was only as high as the coal seam. 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. 7-8 in: Extensive, 219-page report published in the Bureau of Labor StatisticsBulletin no. This risk increased enormously when inexperienced miners failed to undercut the coal before blasting and took the risk of shooting on the solid.. These deposits could produce firedamp, which contained methane and sometimes carbon dioxide that seeped out of the coal seams. Industrial home work was most common in clothing manufacturing and tobacco industries (rolling cigars, etc.) Miners waiting to start their shift at the Virginia-Pochahontas Coal Company mine near Richland, Virginia, in 1974. The craftiness and deftness of the best colliers was most evident when they performed the riskiest task of all. Shows firemen salaries for 25 American cities including New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City and more. The veteran miners, who prided themselves on their toughness, taught the youngest ones how to act like men, how to ignore the pain, and how to laugh away their fears. Shows the average weekly and hourly wages of different occupations in the Missouri shoe industry between 1913-1922. 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. FromTHE DEVIL HERE IN THESE HILLS(Atlantic Monthly Press), now out in paperback. Hourly employees were bound to the ten-hour day, but the coal loaders, or tonnage men, often worked fewer hours and sometimes exercised the right to leave the mine without permission. Source: BLS Monthly labor review, Oct 1927, Shows the average daily wages for 14 different occupations in the Florence district. Manufacturing wages -- SEE box further below. Source: BLS, Shows the cost of foodstuffs, clothing, and other necessities in Hungary. Workers, Kohinoor mine, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, 1884, Managers, Kohinoor mine, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, 1884. The regions first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free. Source: This short article about wages in Nanking, China reports barbers' earnings in US dollars. Salt operators eventually hired more white or free-black laborers due to the risk of investing money in bondsmen, who frequently were killed or injured in the mines. Men's: 45-57. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily or monthly wages for various occupations in 5 different cities in Brazil. Some occupations covered include telephone operators, waitresses, hotel maids, chambermaids, elevator girls, laundry workers, retail clerks, and factory workers in the wood working industry. One task was to test for the build-up of flammable methane gas. This answer is: Study guides. When he lit the fuse, the lead miner hollered, Fire in the hole, and scuttled out of the room with his buddy. The miners called this unpaid labor company work.. Use "search in this text" feature to navigate (or contact us for assistance). Typewriters, school supplies, office supplies, fountain pens, more fountain pens, books, drawing sets, home office furniture. When the smoke cleared, the collier and his buddy would swing their picks to break up large clumps of coal and shovel the smaller lumps into a mine car; it was back-aching work made more painful by the narrowness of the room. 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. Pennsylvania's investment in anthracite iron paid dividends for the industrial economy of the state and proved that coal could be adapted to a number of industrial pursuits. Covers the states of NH, VT, MA, CT, KY, SC, AL, MO, KS, IA and OH. Earnings and prices are shown in Swiss francs. This earlier catastrophe outraged Mother Jones, who spoke of it often on her organizing campaign that year, and it had triggered public pressure to improve the states mine safety laws. Telephones, radios, cameras, kitchen ranges, home electric appliances, record players, music records, sewing machines, fabrics, clothes washers, laundry supplies, vacuum sweepers. Source: BLS, Shows the earnings over different times for both government employees and manual workers in Hamburg. Shows compensation for individualjudgeson the U.S. Supreme Court, circuit courts and district courts. Union wages by occupation and city, 1922-1928, Women's median wages by state and industry, 1910s-1920s, Cigarette packs - Average retail price by brand, 1929, Average college expenses and tuition by institution, 1928, Family budgets by income group, 1918-1930, https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages, Common labor - Average entrance wage rates, 1926-1934, Union wages by occupation and city, 1920-1921, Steam fitters' and sprinkler fitters' helpers, Structural-iron workers: finishers' helpers, Union wages by occupation and city, 1929-1930, Captains, masters, mates, pilots, and engineers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Gang foremen, Maintenance-of-way employees: Assistant gang foremen, Maintenance-of-way employees: Iron workers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Masons, bricklayers, and plasterers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Section laborers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Crossing and bridge flagmen and gatemen, War and postwar wages, prices, and hours, 1914-23 and 1939-44, Urban Negro weekly earnings by sex and occupational class, 1925, Negro wages by occupation - Chicago, 1920, Teacher salaries by race - North Carolina, 1922, Teacher salaries by race - Texas, 1925-1926, Accountants, auditors, bookkeepers, etc. 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. Source: Shows the average hourly wage of a variety of jobs both in and outside of Paris. Data is separated by sex and age. Source: BLS. Eventually, his sons and grandsons also worked in the mines. Source: Women's Bureau Bulletin #25. Provides foreign wage data in native currency alongside the U.S. dollar equivalent to assist in comparing the rates. Covers more than 1,200 cities. Source: BLS, Shows the wages of a variety of occupations both in and outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. Coal powered industrial America. by STATE Prices are shown in Japanese yen. Source: Cost of living and family expenditures in Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas. Fixtures, chamberpots, bathroom soaps, towels, toilet paper. MERCHANDISE Since money wage rates of foreign countries have little meaning for economists in America, only the real wage rates are given.", Shows the average hourly and weekly wages of various occupations for both skilled and unskilled laborers. Women's: Coal industry labor strikes were common from the turn of the century up through the 1930s, as were catastrophic workplace injuries and the prevalence of black lung disease. Source: BLS Bulletin no. Wages are shown in Japanese yen. 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. Trump blames his predecessors environmentalism for the loss of jobs in Appalachia, but the reality is a long-running product of market forces, not liberal tree-hugging. Source: BLS Bulletin no. Salary data for judges inNY, PA, NJ and CT. Shows average wages by industry in both rubles and US currency. $32k - $76k. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wages and hours of a variety of occupations in Madrid. Published 1921. Data was originally published in the Industrial Bulletin of the State Department of Labor. Work clothes, work shirts, dress shirts, dress pants, trousers, vests, suits, dress gloves, overcoats, winter coats, fur caps and collars, neck ties, belts and suspenders, caps and hats, nightwear, socks, shoes, boots, pocket knives, pocket watches, toupes, razors, smoking pipes. Mule drivers and trapper boys like Frank Keeney set out at six oclock every morning with the adult miners, who each carried a pick and auger, a can of black blasting powder, fuses, and a tamping rod. Source: Median wages for butlers, chauffeurs, gardeners, furnace men and "house men" employed to work in private households in Philadelphia in the late 1920s. Wages are shown in contemporary U.S. dollars. 2012-08-05 00:38:00. Shows wages paid on American, Belgian, British, Danish, Dutch, French, Spanish and Swedish cargo ships, by occupations including seamen, engineers, first mates, second mates, radio operators, boatswains, firemen, coal passers, stewards, cooks, waiters, messmen, mess boys, carpenters, deck engineers, quartermasters, store keepers, donkey men, and more. Self-respecting craftsmen were even known to stop working when a foreman came by to inspect their room. Pianos, violins, guitars & banjos, accordions, other musical instruments. Source: BLS, Shows the average wages of Spanish agricultural workers in different cities. 408, Shows the wages of a variety of occupations in the capital of Argentina. All of these mines included a main entry, or portal, and a second tunnel, or monkey drift, which provided workers with ventilationa barely adequate suction through a surface grate created by a coal fire that burned all day. It also summarizes the years from 1907-1922. See "Blood donation" in. Under these terms, a hard worker could earn $2.00 for ten to twelve hours of labor, if the work was steady. Source: BLS, Shows the average retail prices of food, clothing, and fuel prices in Shanghai. Source: BLS, Shows the retail price of various foodstuffs and other items in Prague following Czechoslovakian independence. Mine foremen attempted various forms of industrial discipline to maximize productivity, but in the early 1900s, coal miners experienced little of the supervision foremen and factory managers imposed on workers; in fact, veteran colliers often became surly when a mine foreman came by their place on his little scooter to check on them. As former miner Gary Bentley of Kentucky remarked in a recent New York Times article, Its not going to make a comeback. Instead of paying miners by the ton, they hired them as employees and paid an hourly wage. From. The following is from James Greens The Devil is Here in These Hills. 514. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. Includes breakouts by state, source of income, and more. Salary data for teachers, principals and school administrators in New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago and Kansas City. Source: BLS. During the Great Depression output was nearly halved from 680 million tons to 360 million. Shows the average daily wages Greek workers were receiving in metal mines, lignite mines, smelting and refining plants, and quarries. Source: BLS. Compares average retail prices for drug-store items at independent stores and chain stores in Cincinnati and Washington DC. 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. Figures expressed in both foreign currency and in dollars. Source: BLS Bulletins. Dresses, dresses (in color), coats, bonnets and coats, hats, shoes, girl's toys. The lack of market for coal during the depression had stepped in to push aside both miners and operators as principals in collective bargaining. A strong, skilled coal loader might fill five or more cars in a day. Purchasing power is represented in its equivalence in horses, wheat, the yearly wages of a skilled tradesperson, and others. If a man died in a mine, they quit work to honor him and to take up a collection for his surviving wife and children. Each table is for a different New Zealand city. Table 679 of this 1923 USDA Yearbook tells how much U.S. farmers paid for farm tools and implements, work gloves, shirts and shoes, shotguns, tobacco, wagons, building materials such as nails and shingles, and household items such as dishes and fruit jars, washtubs and buckets in 1909, 1914-1922. Shows the average daily wages of workers in various industries in Riga as well as other parts of Latvia. by RACE MORE PRICES in the U.S. Source: Lists prices of typical food items, housing expenses, clothing, fuel, light and more. The failure of a mine boss to dampen the coal dust was the reason the Red Ash mine blew up in 1905, killing thirteen men and boys on Fire Creek. Shows the standard wages for different shift at ports in Antwerp, Belgium. Shows forty pages of incomedata with numerous breakouts. Milk cost an average 33 per half gallon in 1920. Wages shown in 1930 US dollars.