Unskilled male labour and the beginnings of labour market regulation, Victoria 1901–1914

Abstract

This paper examines the position of unskilled male labourers in Victoria from 1900 to 1914. It looks at the demand for unskilled work in the Edwardian economy and examines the diversity of workplaces in which the unskilled were found. Unskilled labourers had a precarious hold on employment and the paper examines their continual search for work. Work itself was varied in the physical demands made on men, and few labouring jobs were without acquired skills. Employers recognised this and they differentiated between the wages they paid to labourers. In the years before the war labourers won significant wage rises through wages boards, arbitration and direct action.

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