Abstract
Using new and uniquely detailed data, we examine how construction workers’ wages in Sweden developed between 1831 and 1900. Wages grew rapidly from the 1850s, and comparisons with Northwestern Europe show that Swedish workers benefited more from growth than workers elsewhere. Globalization forces, most notably overseas migration, in combination with flexible and well-integrated labor markets—signified by strong regional convergence, falling skill differentials, and small urban-rural wage gaps—pushed up wages in Sweden.
Highlights
Using new and uniquely detailed data, we examine how construction workers’ wages in Sweden developed between 1831 and 1900
We present a new database on wages for different kinds of construction workers, which we use to calculate welfare ratios
We have shown how Swedish workers’ wages grew strongly during the early phases of industrialization, in stark contrast to influential theories as well as the experience of other countries
Summary
Using new and uniquely detailed data, we examine how construction workers’ wages in Sweden developed between 1831 and 1900. To the contrary, that Swedish workers had higher living standards for every level of GDP per capita and that wages in Sweden grew at a much faster rate during the transition to modern economic growth than in the other countries.
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