Title: The 1900s Business and the Economy: Overview | Encyclopedia.com
Headings: The 1900s Business and the Economy: Overview
The 1900s Business and the Economy: Overview
The 1900s Business and the Economy: Overview

Content: Men and women rarely competed for jobs, primarily because of division of labor according to gender. In the industrial sector, men had opportunities and could claim jobs that required physical strength, while women were confined to lowpaying jobs using light machinery. Although by 1910 one-third of the workforce was female, half of these women workers were involved in agriculture or domestic service, leaving little female representation in industry. Children were often exploited as workers. Until regulation ended the practice, child labor was common. In 1900 more than 250,000 children under the age of fifteen worked in factories for minimal pay. Average union wages in 1900 were thirty-four cents per hour, compared to non-union, unskilled pay of fifteen cents per hour. The average workweek in the decade was fifty-three hours. Unskilled laborers especially faced many difficulties, since their income would not support a family of five even if they worked twelve hours a day every day of the year. The century began with businesses expanding by merging with similar companies (horizontal integration) and taking on additional functions in the production and sale of their products (vertical integration).