how much did coal miners get paid in the 1980s

Source: 1934 Statistical Abstract of the United States. Its an era of company town labor we are not likely to see return as automation and renewable energy continue to render these kinds of occupations obsolete. Acquiring a sense of humor helped mask a workers dread of the mine, but joking was no substitute for learning how to be careful. 664. Girl's: 59-71. Source: BLS, Shows the cost of various foodstuffs in the Riga markets. Shows salaries for teachers ofkindergarten, elementary school, junior high, high school, vocational school, college, and normal schools (teacher training academies). Wages are expressed in both foreign currency and dollars. Source: BLS Bulletin no. Wages are shown in Brazilian milreis. Every workingman was supposed to have his turn when it came to getting an empty coal car, because each collier deserved an equal opportunity to get his load to the weigh station. After checking in, they climbed up a steep trail from the office to the portal of a mine. Coffee cost an average 47 per pound in 1920. Former Timeline picture editor. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin, no. Covers more than 1,200 cities. Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginias population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. Chart shows median wages of women employed in Philadelphia households as chambermaids, cleaners, cooks, waitresses, laundress, seamstress, and children's nurses (nannies.) But Appalachian coal production peaked in 1918. Lists ticket prices in NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland and eight more cities in NY, PA, OH and MA. Totals are shown in Canadian dollars. After a temporary escape to attend grammar school, it was the world he reentered in 1900 as an eighteen-year-old man willing and able to load coal for a miners pay. This calculator allows you to compare the buying power of wages earned at different points in history. Wages of pattern makers, molders, drill press operators, lathe hands, machinists and more. Salt operators eventually hired more white or free-black laborers due to the risk of investing money in bondsmen, who frequently were killed or injured in the mines. Source: U.S. BLS. Wages are shown in Belgian francs. Coal miner Bill Keating composed the ballad Down, Down, Down to break my loneliness and to show my mule I was in a friendly mood., President John L. Lewis, United Mine Workers, convention badge, 1936. They provided their own equipment and often hired assistants; managers extended credit for supplies like dynamite. Lists single-unit prices for barbital, benzoyl peroxide, benzocaine, aspirin, quinoline, and more, showing proprietary and coined drug names. Paragraph below the table describes the weekly earnings of blast furnace workers, smelters, rolling mill operators, and foundry workers in both Pounds Sterling and U.S. The legislature rejected all proposals for reform, however. It provided a $1.20-a- day wage increase effective Jan, and an increase of 80 cents a day beginning April 1, 1959. 90%. asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT as 89W detailed information as may be readily available showing the numbers and groupings of employees in the coal mines working at the surface and face, respectively, whose basic rates of pay on 1st November 1973 were below the national average wage of 42 per week ; and how far . Wages are shown in contemporary U.S. dollars. The miners called this unpaid labor company work.. As a novice, Keeney learned the colliers trade from older craftsmenthe skills of cutting the face, setting the charges, and loading the coal without wrenching his back or crippling himself. $32k - $76k. Table shows average tax by acre for each state in 1929. Wages are listed in Mexican currency with exchange rate for calculating amounts in U.S. dollars. Source: Extensive article provides wage detail by occupation and city. Some stopped the cars by jamming pieces of wood into the spokes. Wages are shown in shillings. Source: Bulletin #269 of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, "Farm Family Living Among White Owner and Tenant Operators in Wake County," pages 24-28. It was usually undertaken by women, and sometimes children. Compares average retail prices for "warehoused" name brand grocery items at independent and chain stores in Cincinnati. Farm laborers in Missouri earned an average $41.90/month in 1921. 408, Shows the wages of a variety of occupations in the capital of Argentina. Others opened large wooden doors just before speeding cars passed through. Tables 6-13 show farm land prices by county in IA, MN, ND, ID, OH, KY, NC and TX. The deal, brokered by. He also absorbed the habits and traditions that gave pick and shovel miners a remarkable degree of freedom. Miners would lie on their backs and use a pick to undercut the coal. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wages for workers in different occupations in French coal mines. Bicycles, binoculars, footballs & basketball supplies, ice skates, athletic gear, boxing, baseball, & tennis supplies, fishing tackle, camping gear, guns. The regions first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free. 412. Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Month. Managements steam whistle now set the times. See the. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wage in both yen and US dollars. by STATE Shows the average daily wages Greek workers were receiving in metal mines, lignite mines, smelting and refining plants, and quarries. Wages for workers engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel goods, machinery, railway rolling stock, boilers, vehicles, aircraft, electrical apparatus, scientific instruments and more. NOTE: Forhouseholdincome data for 1929, we recommend a1934 Brookings Institution report titled America's Capacity to Consume. See quartile, "Women in Alabama industries: a study of hours, wages and working conditions," Women's Bureau Bulletin #34 (. Heed no operators tale! Under these terms, a hard worker could earn $2.00 for ten to twelve hours of labor, if the work was steady. Other enslaved African Americans escaped from the salt works to Ohio, a free state only 60 miles away. With industrialization, workers lost control of when to start, eat, and end their day. For example, a dollar earned in 2020 had the same buying power as 7 in 1928. Source: AAUP report. This mammoth work lists typical earnings as well as job descriptions and working conditions for thousands of occupations just before the Great Depression. Wages are shown in both German marks and contemporary U.S. dollars. Source: BLS, Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 2-4. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. At suppertime, youngsters like Frank would sit with the men on a pile of slate and listen as veterans of the mine would sing songs, spin yarns, and tell jokes; they would rib the boys, trick them for laughs, and tell them tall tales of the devilish apparitions that appeared to them down in the hole. Wages are shown in contemporary U.S. dollars. Shows data for unskilled male laborers in each of 13 industries, as well as an overall average. The study pays particular attention to women who made less than the average wage. Source: BLS, Shows the earnings over different times for both government employees and manual workers in Hamburg. Expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence. In the US, coal mining is a shrinking industry. Shows the daily wages of various common and low-skill occupations like building laborers, canners, and rice mill workers throughout the state. West Virginias drift mines were cut into the mountains horizontally and its slope mines descended gradually into the earth. One task was to test for the build-up of flammable methane gas. 523. Photographer + writer. Also shows rowboat and pack horse rental rates, cost for guided tours, and transportation fares. HEALTH CARE Boy's: Shows wages and hours of workers in the cotton industry over a 23 year period. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of various foodstuffs in 10 large German cities. More passenger air fares from other sources: Household items: This is a New Zealand government document. $15 - $30. Source: For each college, this table shows tuition for residents and non-residents by course of study. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (June 1931), Shows the average hours and daily wages of various workers in quarries, sawmills, and many other industries throughout Virginia. This answer is: Study guides. Source: BLS Bulletin no. These were the underground attitudes Frank Keeney absorbed as he entered manhood as a coal miner. Income statistics of full time professional women were published in study by the Association of Business and Professional Women. Coal Miners Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginia's population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. From the Newcomb-Endicott store, Detroit, Michigan. Montgomery Ward catalog shows prices of radios and radio supplies on 60+ pages. Includes a table showing. Describes the labor policy of South Africa in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. 525. Prices are shown in Mexican pesos. Source: BLS. 1920, Home plans and costs to build in California, 1920, Retail prices of building materials by city, 1922, Building material prices paid by farmers, 1923-1924, Cost to construct houses, by type of material - 1921, Building material prices paid by farmers, 1910-1960, Farm real estate - Average value by state and county, 1920, Price of farm land by county in selected states, 1912-1924, New England farms and land - Average value by county, 1920-1930, Farm real estate values in Midwestern states, 1912-2019, Land in Missouri - Cost to rent or buy by county, 1922, Rents in working class neighborhoods in Cincinnati, 1920, Household heating fuel costs and expenditures by city, 1927, Electricity - Average monthly bill, 1924-1950, Household electricity costs and expenditures by city, 1927, Changes in retail prices of electricity, 1923-38, Car prices with illustrations, 1900-1920s, Gasoline prices andtaxes, and annual consumption per vehicle, 1920-1939, Horse-drawn carriages, buggies and accessories, 1920, Horse and mule prices by state, 1919-1920, City transit fares in NY, PA, OH and MA - 1927, Streetcar, omnibus and subway rates, 1926, Passenger train fare in the U.S., 1871-1933, RR ticket prices between NYC and Chicago, 1910-1944, accessories (diapers, baby bottles, etc. Source: BLS, Shows the hourly, daily, and weekly earnings in Milan for various industries. On one hand, the miners discipline and death-defying courage made them ideal industrial soldiers; on the other hand, the qualities the men forged in underground combat with the elementsbravery, fraternal fealty, and group solidarityhardened them for aboveground combat with their employers. Source: BLS, Shows the hourly wages for men and women in Finnish unions. 162-207. Tables are broken down by type of job, gender of employee, and geography. This booklet shows prices for hotels and amenities such astelephone, restaurant meals,haircuts, bath house, etc. Hourly employees were bound to the ten-hour day, but the coal loaders, or tonnage men, often worked fewer hours and sometimes exercised the right to leave the mine without permission. The correct use of explosives depended on the miners skill and knowledge of how to drill, how much powder to use, and how to damp a charge properly. Click for more info about the kind of home a family earning less than $2,500 annually could buy in 1928. All of these mines included a main entry, or portal, and a second tunnel, or monkey drift, which provided workers with ventilationa barely adequate suction through a surface grate created by a coal fire that burned all day. Source: Shows the average hourly wage of a variety of jobs both in and outside of Paris. Source: Teachers' salaries and salary trends in 1923. The lack of market for coal during the depression had stepped in to push aside both miners and operators as principals in collective bargaining. Engineers working for Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Co. used this model to visualize the coal seams and design their mines. Source: Historical chart shows salaries of members of the U.S. Congress, along with dates of enactment and statutory authority for each pay increase. Took into account additional sources of income for farm families, such as income derived from animals or investments. Then, with their lamps casting a dim yellow light on the dark hillside, the men and boys disappeared one by one into the hole, like ants entering a colony. During the early 1900s, roof falls in the bituminous coal mines killed an average of 886 workers every year, as compared with the 274 deaths per year caused by explosions and fires. Police department personnel salaries and wages. Fearful of the danger, frightened by the blackest darkness he could imagine, and repelled by the coal dust that clung to him like a layer of skin, Washington vowed to get an education and rise out of the coal pits, just as he had risen up from slavery.. 5-6. Infant's: Data is broken out byoccupation, sex and district. Shows the weekly wages of various occupations in Swiss farming as well as the daily wages of day laborers. Shows the wages of Japanese mining workers by gender and age. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review, Dec 1920 Manufacturing wages -- SEE box further below. Source: Federal Power Commission. Milk cost an average 33 per half gallon in 1920. The coal industry required more labor than southern West Virginia could supply. Covers more than 1,200 cities. $180 - $5k. Source: The tables show pay for employees engaged in the manufacture of automobiles, trucks, car bodies and parts. In the words of the popular song Miners Lifeguard, written by a miner from Oak Hill, West Virginia: A miners life is like a sailors, Source: BLS, Shows the average retail prices of staple foodstuffs in Madrid, Spain. MERCHANDISE Shows average dollar amount spent annually in categories such as food, clothing, maintenance of health, personal goods, furniture and more. Data gathered by the National Industrial Conference Board using foreign government sources. Wages shown in 1930 US dollars. Source: BLS. Shows prices for articles of clothing sold in 35 retailer shops in twelve cities. Shows wages by occupation grouped by industries, with breakouts for males and females. Prices are shown in German marks. University of Missouri, Columbia Salary data for judges inNY, PA, NJ and CT. Tomorrow night at 9pm PBSs American Experience will broadcast The Mine Wars, based on the book. Wages are shown in Japanese yen. In 1923, there were about 883,000 coal miners; today there are about 53,000. "In this region, I presume that a fee of $200 would be a pretty fair estimate of the surgeon's charge for operation and the after-treatment there would be between the operation and the death of the patient." During the Great Depression output was nearly halved from 680 million tons to 360 million. Coal industry labor strikes were common from the turn of the century up through the 1930s, as were catastrophic workplace injuries and the prevalence of black lung disease. Source: Women's Bureau Bulletin #25. Also tells pay for court clerks and marshals. Besides know-how, the miners depended upon instinct and luck. Shows wage data by manufacturing categories for 1914, 1919, 1921, and 1923. Each table spans 2 book pages, and row labels only show on even-numbered pages. Source: BLS. If a man died in a mine, they quit work to honor him and to take up a collection for his surviving wife and children. Also shows the averagecost to rent farm landor pastures by the acre, by county. Cottage and bungalow home designs with illustrations and floor plans in the "Wardway homes" catalog. Full chapter extends from pp. A standard tune in miners lore began with lyric, Youve been docked and docked again, boys / Youve been loading two for one, and asked what the miner had to show for working so hard. Wages shown in 1930 US dollars. The carpenters, mechanics, mule skinners, and other mine employees, who enjoyed no such latitude, were known by pit-face miners as company men. By contrast, the pit-face miners saw themselves as autonomous workmen who labored for themselves as well as for the company. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wages of day laborers, farm hands, clerks, bookkeepers, government employees, and army members in Lithuania. Details the price of clothing for men, women, boys and girls on pp. Keep your hand upon the dollar, During the first three decades of the 20th century, African Americans comprised about 25 percent of all southern West Virginia miners. To view an issue of interest, select it from the list and click View. The region's first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free. Source: BLS. Frank Keeney left no account of how he felt the day he entered the mine portal, but one imagines the dread that might have accompanied a ten-year-old boys first trip into the hole. Wages are shown in Italian lire. Prices are shown in contemporary US dollars. MORE PRICES in the U.S. Managers worried about competition, costs, and controlling workers who spoke multiple languages and labored out of view. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. In 1927, "$30 per month was taken as the average minimum expenditure for rent in Boston for the [working class] family of four living on the American standard.". Shows price list of one California retailer. Chart indicates hourly earnings ranges for piecework at automobile manufacturing companies in Germany. Tells cost of public transportation and railway fares as well. There was little prospect then that coal would be in demand as it is today or that the daily wage of miners would be multiplied 8 to 10 times by 1974. Priced by the single unit. Shows forty pages of incomedata with numerous breakouts. Wages are shown in both Hungarian gold crowns and contemporary U.S. dollars. Source: BLS, Shows the cost of foodstuffs, clothing, and other necessities in Hungary. Shows prices by month and year. During the 1910s and 1920s, minimum wage laws were adopted by a handful of states and generally applied only to women and children. Source: National Education Association of the United States. Covers New York City, New Jersey towns, Fall River MA, Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Portland OR. Shows average public employee pay for each state. Source: BLS, Shows the minimum hourly wages of various occupations in Brussels. He later recalled his terror at being lost in a maze of underground rooms when his lamp went out. Industries and occupations included are toilers, manufacturing, construction, mining, and more. Trump blames his predecessors environmentalism for the loss of jobs in Appalachia, but the reality is a long-running product of market forces, not liberal tree-hugging. Shows monthly wages based on the ocean routes traveled: San Francisco to points west, and New York City to points south and east. Wages are shown in Czech krone. Source: 1930 Census of Agriculture. Shows the average weekly wages of various occupations in 8 different industries in Budapest. Describes the labor policy of Mexico in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. It also summarizes the years from 1907-1922. Covers occupations in the building trades, metal trades, printing trades, coal mining and more. Using a thin iron needle about the thickness of a pencil, he shoved a cartridge of black powder into the hole and pushed a little clay into the hole with a damper; then he carefullywithdrew the needle and inserted a wick of waxed paper, a squib, that would burn down to the black powder. Source: page 13 in. Wages are shown in yen. Firedamp, described as the monster most dreaded by the practical miner, could explode if ignited by sparks or powder blasts, which would send fires raging through mine shafts with hurricane force. At dawn, the workers reported to the payroll clerk in the company office, where they were handed numbered brass checks to attach to each coal car they loaded. Shows wages and hours for union bricklayers, building laborers, carpenters, cement finishers,hod carriers, inside wiremen, painters, plasterers, plumbers, stonecutters and more. Appalachian coal production has been on shaky ground almost since the industrys inception in the mid 19th century. Coal operators often provided services like company stores. Scroll forward and back to see the various cities for which average food prices are available. Source: U.S. BLS Bulletin, No. When the smoke cleared, the collier and his buddy would swing their picks to break up large clumps of coal and shovel the smaller lumps into a mine car; it was back-aching work made more painful by the narrowness of the room. in FOREIGN COUNTRIES, FOOD Source: Monthly price list for Ralph's Grocery Company, which sold only in the Los Angeles area. Eventually, his sons and grandsons also worked in the mines. Source: BLS. Source: BLS, Shows the hourly and weekly earnings of industrial wages in Romanian leu. Shows the average weekly wages of NY factory workers every month over a 14 year period. Source: Shows the weekly wages of various occupations in Vienna. Bonus. Boys learned the mining craft from their fathers and later passed this knowledge on to their own sons. Coal diggers gave up some of their hard-earned pay to aid fellow miners when they were sick or injured, and when a mine exploded, they risked their lives to rescue the survivors trapped inside. Source: The cost of living in twelve industrial cities, p. 63. Source: BLS. Wages shown in litas, and US dollars in parentheses. Source: BLS, Shows the average wages of Spanish agricultural workers in different cities. Read more Employment in coal mining industry in the United Kingdom (UK) 1920-2021 . Miscellaneous: Shows firemen salaries for 25 American cities including New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City and more. Source: BLS, Shows clothes prices paid by working class families in Great Britain. Shows wages for common and semi-skilled workers in manufacturing and construction industries, in baking, agriculture, metal and printing trades. Data available for additional years inMissouri Farm Census by Counties, Missouri State Dept of Agriculture. Knickerbockers, shirts, high school boy's suits, boy's fine suits, overcoats, winter coats, jackets, pajamas, rain coats, caps and hats, shoes. Source: BLS, Shows the daily wages of masons, carpenters, stonecutters, painters, shoemakers, and tailors in each of the provincial capitals of Spain. Before the 1930s, many boys worked in mines. Prices are shown in Latvian rubles. From, Earnings forveterinarians with governmentjobs, in scientific labs, in sales, or working as. Source: U.S. Dept of Agriculture. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of food and commodities in various cities throughout south Manchuria. As a rule he is paid so much per car, and a definite number of cars constitute a day's workthe number varying in different minesaveraging from five to seven, equaling from twelve to fifteen tons of coal. Source: BLS, Shows the average wages for an 8 hour work day in Riga within various industry groups. Table 41 in this source shows the average salary for all teachers in elementary and secondary schools in New York state, not including NYC. Prices are shown in Hungarian crowns. Tools and hardware: Appalachias traditionally small, locally owned mines started merging with larger energy firms in the 1960s, and by 1970 bituminous coal employment had dropped to 140,000 people from its 1923 peak of 740,000. Includes breakouts for those who lived with the family and those who did not. Women's and children's clothing - Newcomb, Endicott, and Co. Retail prices for imported merchandise, 1922, Rates charges for hospital services, 1928, Health care costs and expenditures, 1923-1925, Average charges by type of medical complaint, 1929-1930, Public colleges - Tuition by institution, 1921-1922, Private colleges - Tuition by institution, 1921-1922, Howard University School of Medicine - Tuition & expenses, 1920-21, The Undertaker's Trade - Services and Prices, Average funeral cost by state and city, 1927, Cost to mail a letter or postcard, 1863-present, Vacation to Yellowstone National Park - Prices in 1920, Consumption expenditures per capita, 1901-1956, Cost of living increase in U.S. large cities, 1913-1941, Income needed for "minimum subsistence" in cities, 1929, Minimum income needed to live in Washington DC, 1920, Cost of living among wage earners, Detroit, 1921, Lynchburg, VA - Cost of living and expenditures, 1928-1929, Ability to pay and standard of living among farmers, 1926, Farm family expenditures in selected states, 1922-1924, Average annual costs of keeping work horses, 1921, Virginia - Cost of living and expenditures, 1928-1929, Calculator: Present-day purchasing power of a historic dollar amount, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, Canada - Food and rents by province and city, 1923, Canada - Prices of staple foods, fuel and rent in 1913, 1920-1927, Retail Prices in Czechoslovakia, 1914-1921, Clothing prices - Great Britain, 1914-1921, New Zealand - Food and cigarette retail prices by city, 1921. equal opportunity/access/affirmative action/pro-disabled and veteran employer.

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