Labor Market Outcomes in Settler Economies between 1870 and 1913: Accounting for Differences in Labor Hours and Occupations

Abstract

This chapter focuses on labor market outcomes and what attention to differences in outcomes; between occupations, regions, and countries, may tell us about the development of the labor market and the economy generally, and settler economies in particular. It reviews some of what is known about labor markets in some settler economies and discusses some of the limitations to our knowledge. The chapter tackles two areas where current knowledge is limited, working hours and the selection of representative occupations, with a view to assessing whether variations in these factors impacts on the overall understanding of settler economies in the late 19th century. It also examines the labor market outcomes of some European settled portions of the Americas and Australasia (but not Africa). The chapter aims to determine whether previous findings based on constant labor hours, or on one or two occupational groups, remain relatively stable when new information is introduced. Keywords:labor hours; labor market outcomes; representative occupations; settler economies; working hours