Question

When an industry was monopolized by one company or trust during the Gilded Age, what happened to workers’ wages? Workers often earned more because fewer businesses were competing for their services. Workers often earned less because more businesses were competing for their services. Workers often earned more because more businesses were competing for their services. Workers often earned less because fewer businesses were competing for their services.

Answer 1

Generally speaking, when an industry was monopolized by one company or trust during the Gilded Age, then "Workers often earned less because fewer businesses were competing for their services," since the monopolies could pay the workers practically whatever they wanted.

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Answer 2

The correct answer is "Workers often earned less because fewer businesses were competing for their services."

A monopoly is when one company or individual has almost complete control of a specific market. For example, Andrew Carneige had almost a complete monopoly on the steel industry in the United States during the late 1800's and early 1900's. There were very few other successful steel companies that were independent of his control.

With this in mind, workers could not threaten to leave their job to go work elsewhere for better pay. This is because these types of companies simply did not exist. Many laborers were forced to take unsafe jobs to ensure they had money to pay for their homes/families.