Working and Living conditions
By: Miriam Hewett
Working Conditions
- 80% of the population was the working class
- high unemployment rate for workers in the first phases of the Industrial Revolution.
- workers could not use the democratic political system to fight for rights and reforms
- In 1799 and 1800, the British Parliament passed the Combination Acts the acts made it illegal for workers to group together and ask for better working conditions.
- A lot of people with good skills were useless because they could no longer compete with the new machinery
Living Conditions
- the quality of life decreased a great deal in the first 60 years of the Industrial Revolution
- the living conditions for skilled weavers significantly deteriorated
- houses were one nice were now a filthy
- little time for recreation
- ban traditional festivals in the cities
- Out of desperation people turned to “poorhouses” set up by the government