Industrial revolution is fundamentally linked with the rise of factories and the decline of skilled artisans in manufacturing. Most scholars agree that factories as compared to artisan shops were intensive in unskilled labor. Indeed, the hallmark of the early factories is the utilization of division of labor of relatively unskilled workers. This paper explores whether the massive influx of unskilled immigrants between 1840 and 1920, by significantly increasing the ratio of unskilled to skilled labor endowment, contributed to the growth and spread of factory manufacturing in the United States. The data indicate that immigration not only contributed to the growth and spread of factories but it also contributed to the growth of cities.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
12900.
Length: Date of creation: Feb 2007 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12900
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Find related papers by JEL classification: F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Income, and Wealth N6 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction O30 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - General
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