Job tenure and unskilled workers before the Industrial Revolution: St Paul’s Cathedral 1672-1748

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Meredith Paker, Grinnell College; Judy Stephenson, UCL; Patrick Wallis, LSE

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
1.DataConstruction.do text/plain 9.3 KB 11/04/2022 06:52:AM
2.DescriptiveStatistics.do text/plain 13.7 KB 09/13/2022 10:14:AM
3.RegressionPanel.do text/plain 4.9 KB 09/14/2022 04:43:AM
4.EconometricResults.do text/plain 13 KB 09/13/2022 10:35:AM
RawData.dta application/x-stata-dta 1.8 MB 09/14/2022 04:45:AM

Project Citation: 

Paker, Meredith, Stephenson, Judy, and Wallis, Patrick. Job tenure and unskilled workers before the Industrial Revolution:  St Paul’s Cathedral 1672-1748. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2022-11-04. https://doi.org/10.3886/E182784V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary How were unskilled workers selected and hired in preindustrial labour markets? We exploit records from the rebuilding of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London (1672–1748) to analyze the hiring and employment history of over one thousand general building labourers, the benchmark category of ‘unskilled’ workers in long-run wage series. Despite volatile demand, St. Paul’s created a stable workforce by rewarding the tenure of long-standing workers. More senior workers received more days of work each month, preference when jobs were scarce, and the opportunity to earn additional income. We find the cathedral’s strategy consistent with reducing hiring frictions and turnover costs.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms labour market; churn; tenure; labourers; construction; economic history; London
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage England
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1672 – 1748
Universe:  View help for Universe Unskilled Labourers employed at St Paul's Cathedral London
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) administrative records data
Collection Notes:  View help for Collection Notes Source data is held by London Metropolitan Archives, CLC/313/I/B/25473

Methodology

Sampling:  View help for Sampling Universe of all building labourers employed at St Pauls was collected.
Data Source:  View help for Data Source London Metropolitan Archives, CLC/313/I/B/25473
Collection Mode(s):  View help for Collection Mode(s) other
Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Individuals
Geographic Unit:  View help for Geographic Unit Building SIte

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Published Versions

V1 [2022-11-04]

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