Days Worked and Seasonality Patterns of Work in Eighteenth Century Denmark

Discussion Papers on Business and Economics, University of Southern Denmark, 10/2019

37 Pages Posted: 5 Sep 2019

See all articles by Peter S. Jensen

Peter S. Jensen

University of Southern Denmark - Department of Business and Economics

Cristina Victoria Radu

University of Southern Denmark

Paul Richard Sharp

University of Southern Denmark - Department of Business and Economics

Date Written: August 29, 2019

Abstract

The calculation of the number of days worked per year is crucial for understanding pre‐industrial living standards, and yet has presented considerable obstacles due to data scarcity. We present evidence on days worked and seasonality patterns of work using evidence from a large database of micro‐level labor market data for eighteenth century rural Denmark. We estimate that workers worked approximately 5.6 days per week when under full employment. Seasonality of work meant, however, that they were unlikely to find employment during the winter, bringing the estimated number of working days per year to 184. This is lower than often assumed in the literature on real wage calculations, but in line with recent evidence for Malmö and London. We find that days worked increased over the eighteenth century, consistent with the idea of an “industrious revolution”. We suggest however that this was probably mostly due to economic necessity rather than a consumer revolution, since unskilled and low skilled workers needed to work over 300 days per year to afford a subsistence basket.

Keywords: Working Year, Seasonality Patterns, Real Wages, Annual Workers, Casual Workers, Denmark, Eighteenth Century

JEL Classification: J22, N33

Suggested Citation

Jensen, Peter S. and Radu, Cristina Victoria and Sharp, Paul Richard, Days Worked and Seasonality Patterns of Work in Eighteenth Century Denmark (August 29, 2019). Discussion Papers on Business and Economics, University of Southern Denmark, 10/2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3444872 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3444872

Peter S. Jensen (Contact Author)

University of Southern Denmark - Department of Business and Economics ( email )

Campusvej 55
DK-5230 Odense M, 5230
Denmark

HOME PAGE: http://www.sam.sdu.dk/staff/psj

Cristina Victoria Radu

University of Southern Denmark ( email )

Campusvej 55
DK-5230 Odense, 5000
Denmark

Paul Richard Sharp

University of Southern Denmark - Department of Business and Economics ( email )

DK-5230 Odense
Denmark

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