Final answer:
The Industrial Revolution led to increased demand for labor but worsened living conditions for workers. Industrial labor was preferred due to slightly higher pay compared to agricultural jobs, but real wages stagnated, and few protections existed for workers.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Industrial Revolution brought significant changes to workers' wages and working conditions in cities like London. Initially, there was a drastic shift from a smaller-scale, manual labor system to a mass-production economy centered around factories. This led to an increase in demand for both skilled and unskilled labor. However, as the urban workforce grew due to urbanization, the conditions faced by these workers often deteriorated. Workers managed more machines at faster rates, and wage systems shifted from hourly pay to piecework with compensation cuts, contributing to a precarious financial situation for many.
The change from agricultural to industrial labor did mean that even low factory wages were generally higher than those in farming. By the 1860s, a male common laborer in London could earn about twenty shillings a week in industrial labor, compared to fourteen shillings a week as a farmhand. Despite these higher wages in industry, the living conditions for the majority of the working population worsened, as real wages did not significantly increase until later in the century. This resulted in widespread poverty among industrial workers.
Strides in mass production and management techniques, such as the introduction of a regulated workday, were designed to optimize productivity. These changes, while contributing to the explosion of economic growth and technology, often came at the expense of worker well-being. Laws protecting workers, including women and children, lagged behind those for animals, highlighting the lack of concern for worker safety during this time.