During the late 18th century and early 19th century, the nature of work shifted from agricultural to industrial.
In agrarian societies, work focused on agriculture, hunting and gathering. The workforce mostly comprised of self-employed farmers as land owners or tenants, or as landless agricultural laborers. The manufacture of goods was mostly done in people's homes using basic machinery or hand tools. However, at the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the nature of work shifted to mass production of goods using special-purpose machinery in factories. People were hired in these factories and paid wages by the factory owners.