how much did coal miners get paid in the 1980s

Phone (573) 882-0748. Study showed how much a family of five would need to live in Washington DC in 1920. Source: BLS, The explanation states: "real wage rates have been computed by the Statistical Office on the basis of the official German cost-of-living index. Discusses household expenditures for electricity, and estimates the number of homes that had various electrical appliances (radios, refrigerators, irons, etc.) Between 12th and 14th Streets Shows prices for articles of clothing sold in 35 retailer shops in twelve cities. Also shows the averagecost to rent farm landor pastures by the acre, by county. When the smoke cleared, the collier and his buddy would swing their picks to break up large clumps of coal and shovel the smaller lumps into a mine car; it was back-aching work made more painful by the narrowness of the room. Some stopped the cars by jamming pieces of wood into the spokes. Working in coal mines is dangerous miners have to deal with toxic . All of these mines included a main entry, or portal, and a second tunnel, or monkey drift, which provided workers with ventilationa barely adequate suction through a surface grate created by a coal fire that burned all day. Shows the hourly and weekly wages for 12 principal industries throughout Germany. Link navigates to a record containing multiple years worth of this publication. During the Great Depression output was nearly halved from 680 million tons to 360 million. Wages of pattern makers, molders, drill press operators, lathe hands, machinists and more. Source: BLS. Source: Extensive article provides wage detail by occupation and city. The correct use of explosives depended on the miners skill and knowledge of how to drill, how much powder to use, and how to damp a charge properly. Prices are shown in Swiss francs. They designed complex ventilation systems with fans and interior doors to keep dangerous gases from causing explosions. Few words meant more to mine workers than manliness, a quality that connoted dignity, respectability, defiant egalitarianism, and patriarchal male supremacy, in the words of historian David Montgomery. Source: BLS, Shows wages of various industrial and agricultural gender, in both Romanian leu and contemporary U.S. dollars. For best detail, see the full chapters on. continue to render these kinds of occupations obsolete. Under these terms, a hard worker could earn $2.00 for ten to twelve hours of labor, if the work was steady. Coal mining is a dangerous job requiring skill and judgment. Wages are shown in Austrian kronen. But the chorus of foreign languages confirmed managements fears that companies were slipping out of control. Source: Lists minimum and maximum daily wages for male and female workers. Shows the average weekly and hourly wages of different occupations in the Missouri shoe industry between 1913-1922. The deep imagery of coal mining in the 1970s shows a lifestyle - Medium Source: BLS, Shows the minimum hourly wages of various occupations in Brussels. In the hand-loading era, an underground miners workplace, usually called a room, was only as high as the coal seam. Prices are shown in Latvian rubles. Union wages by occupation and city, 1922-1928, Women's median wages by state and industry, 1910s-1920s, Cigarette packs - Average retail price by brand, 1929, Average college expenses and tuition by institution, 1928, Family budgets by income group, 1918-1930, https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages, Common labor - Average entrance wage rates, 1926-1934, Union wages by occupation and city, 1920-1921, Steam fitters' and sprinkler fitters' helpers, Structural-iron workers: finishers' helpers, Union wages by occupation and city, 1929-1930, Captains, masters, mates, pilots, and engineers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Gang foremen, Maintenance-of-way employees: Assistant gang foremen, Maintenance-of-way employees: Iron workers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Masons, bricklayers, and plasterers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Section laborers, Maintenance-of-way employees: Crossing and bridge flagmen and gatemen, War and postwar wages, prices, and hours, 1914-23 and 1939-44, Urban Negro weekly earnings by sex and occupational class, 1925, Negro wages by occupation - Chicago, 1920, Teacher salaries by race - North Carolina, 1922, Teacher salaries by race - Texas, 1925-1926, Accountants, auditors, bookkeepers, etc. Coal Miners Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginia's population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of foodstuffs and other necessities throughout different areas of Denmark such as Copenhagen. Wages are shown in both Francs and contemporary US dollars. Chart indicates hourly earnings ranges for piecework at automobile manufacturing companies in Germany. It also summarizes the years from 1907-1922. Pianos, violins, guitars & banjos, accordions, other musical instruments. by STATE A man sometimes had to get down on his hands and knees, with his left shoulder, well padded, against the car, bracing himself with his toes against the ties and the dirt of the floor, wrote a former miner, while his partner controlled the brakes to keep the car from rolling back on the pusher if he slipped or grew tired. Back injuries, broken legs, and severed feet and fingers were common. 297. Each table is for a different New Zealand city. Covers the states of NH, VT, MA, CT, KY, SC, AL, MO, KS, IA and OH. Shows the average retail prices of staple foodstuffs in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Source: Lists costs of running a farm, including costs of power, labor, insurance, interest on loans, etc. Meal time was cold, cramped, and wet. Describes the labor policy of South Africa in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. The miners dressed in overalls, or bank clothes, for working the coal banks and wore cloth caps fitted with small oil lamps that lit their way in the tunnels. Taken from Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. With industrialization, workers lost control of when to start, eat, and end their day. Source: Includes district-specific information and the average output of coal per person per shift. His pictures also reflect a variegated experience in Appalachia, countering stereotypes by depicting middle-class miners, racial diversity, and community pride. Engineers used anemometers to measure airflow within mines. Source: BLS, Shows the average wages of Spanish agricultural workers in different cities. Shows salaries at the state, county and city levels. College professor salaries, 1928 (Source: AAUP report). 5-6. Coal industry labor strikes were common from the turn of the century up through the 1930s, as were catastrophic workplace injuries and the prevalence of black lung disease. A strong, skilled coal loader might fill five or more cars in a day. Source: Quote: "I presume that a fee of $200 would be a pretty fair estimate of the surgeon's charge for operation and the after-treatment between the operation and the death of the patient." Before the days of electric cars, many boys served as mule drivers. Source: BLS. Survey covered only white families over a certain. Check the, Shows the daily rate of Utah coal mining workers in a variety of jobs and occupations. The industry has been in slow decline ever since, compounded along the way by the rise of steam engines, mechanized extraction methods, and competition from oil and natural gas, and now renewable energy. Coal miner Bill Keating composed the ballad Down, Down, Down to break my loneliness and to show my mule I was in a friendly mood., President John L. Lewis, United Mine Workers, convention badge, 1936. Source: Shows the earnings per hour and week for sawmill workers over a 20 year period. Under these terms, a hard worker could earn $2.00 for ten to twelve hours of labor, if the work was steady. Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson is back. TRANSPORTATION Miners waiting to start their shift at the Virginia-Pochahontas Coal Company mine near Richland, Virginia, in 1974. Women's and children's clothing - Newcomb, Endicott, and Co. Retail prices for imported merchandise, 1922, Rates charges for hospital services, 1928, Health care costs and expenditures, 1923-1925, Average charges by type of medical complaint, 1929-1930, Public colleges - Tuition by institution, 1921-1922, Private colleges - Tuition by institution, 1921-1922, Howard University School of Medicine - Tuition & expenses, 1920-21, The Undertaker's Trade - Services and Prices, Average funeral cost by state and city, 1927, Cost to mail a letter or postcard, 1863-present, Vacation to Yellowstone National Park - Prices in 1920, Consumption expenditures per capita, 1901-1956, Cost of living increase in U.S. large cities, 1913-1941, Income needed for "minimum subsistence" in cities, 1929, Minimum income needed to live in Washington DC, 1920, Cost of living among wage earners, Detroit, 1921, Lynchburg, VA - Cost of living and expenditures, 1928-1929, Ability to pay and standard of living among farmers, 1926, Farm family expenditures in selected states, 1922-1924, Average annual costs of keeping work horses, 1921, Virginia - Cost of living and expenditures, 1928-1929, Calculator: Present-day purchasing power of a historic dollar amount, Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, Canada - Food and rents by province and city, 1923, Canada - Prices of staple foods, fuel and rent in 1913, 1920-1927, Retail Prices in Czechoslovakia, 1914-1921, Clothing prices - Great Britain, 1914-1921, New Zealand - Food and cigarette retail prices by city, 1921. equal opportunity/access/affirmative action/pro-disabled and veteran employer. And your eye upon the scale! After they loaded coal from the fallen pillars, the colliers and their helpers pushed their cars out into the main entry as fast as possible before sections of the roof collapsed. Appalachian coal production has been on shaky ground almost since the industrys inception in the mid 19th century. Links to government documents and primary sources listing retail prices for products and services, as well as wages for common occupations. Shows the average daily wages of Japanese and Chinese workers in various occupations for the South Manchuria Railway Co. Wages are shown in both contemporary yen and US dollars. They provided their own equipment and often hired assistants; managers extended credit for supplies like dynamite. NOTE: Forhouseholdincome data for 1929, we recommend a1934 Brookings Institution report titled America's Capacity to Consume. Source: Teachers' salaries and salary trends in 1923. Source: Howard University, States "the average student probably spends about $700 per year for a college education" and shows, This source shows the cost of funerals and burial in 18 states and in 10 major cities. Describes the labor policy of New Zealand in the 1920's and throughout the rest of the early 20th century. The coal industry required more labor than southern West Virginia could supply. Sometimes they hired guards or brought in government troops to maintain order and control strikers. Wages shown in 1930 US dollars. Work clothes, work shirts, dress shirts, dress pants, trousers, vests, suits, dress gloves, overcoats, winter coats, fur caps and collars, neck ties, belts and suspenders, caps and hats, nightwear, socks, shoes, boots, pocket knives, pocket watches, toupes, razors, smoking pipes. Source: BLS, Shows the average daily wages and hours of a variety of occupations in Madrid. Report published in 1925 mainly covers wages in manufacturing industries. Wages are shown in German marks. Immigrants in southern West Virginia comprised some 25 nationalities, including Italians, Hungarians, Poles, Austrians and Russians. BBC ON THIS DAY | 13 | 1975: Miners set for 35 per cent pay rises A trapper like Frank had to pay close attention to his duties, opening and closing the doors regularly to keep the air moving and to allow coal cars to pass back and forth. Source: BLS, Shows the retail prices of food and commodities in various cities throughout south Manchuria. Living room: Source: Shows the weekly wages of various occupations in Vienna. Workers focused on the pace of work, safety, and wages. 294-295. Expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence. It provided a $1.20-a- day wage increase effective Jan, and an increase of 80 cents a day beginning April 1, 1959. Totals are shown in Canadian dollars. Read more Employment in coal mining industry in the United Kingdom (UK) 1920-2021 . Wages are shown in Spanish pesetas. PDF Wage Chronology: Anthracite Mining Industry, 1930-66 : Bulletin of the Compares average retail prices for grocery items in independent stores and in chain stores. Shows wages and prices in kronen, along with the exchange rate to translate into U.S. dollars. Separate listings forinspectors, police superintendents, captains, sergeants, privates, etc. Watch the rocks, theyre falling daily, The union was very important to miners. Source: Shows wages by occupation in Belfast, Cork, Glasgow, Dundee, Cardiff, London, Manchester and more. Source: U.S. Dept of Labor, Compares affordability of food and consumer goods from one year to the next and provides price. Wages shown in litas, and US dollars in parentheses. Shows wages and hours for union bricklayers, building laborers, carpenters, cement finishers,hod carriers, inside wiremen, painters, plasterers, plumbers, stonecutters and more. Covers New York City, New Jersey towns, Fall River MA, Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Portland OR. Shows average value per acre for all real estate with buildings, and the value of land alone, by county, for six states: MA, CT, RI , ME, VT and NH. Shows the average daily wages of workers in various industries in Riga as well as other parts of Latvia. School and office supplies: Women's: Occupations wages shown in 1930 US dollars. Tomorrow night at 9pm PBSs American Experience will broadcast The Mine Wars, based on the book. Shows wages and hours of workers in the cotton industry over a 23 year period. At suppertime, youngsters like Frank would sit with the men on a pile of slate and listen as veterans of the mine would sing songs, spin yarns, and tell jokes; they would rib the boys, trick them for laughs, and tell them tall tales of the devilish apparitions that appeared to them down in the hole. Industrial home work was most common in clothing manufacturing and tobacco industries (rolling cigars, etc.) Published by the National Industrial Conference Board. Every workingman was supposed to have his turn when it came to getting an empty coal car, because each collier deserved an equal opportunity to get his load to the weigh station. Source: BLS, Shows the average retail prices of foodstuffs in Madrid and Barcelona. 2-4. University of Missouri, Columbia One task was to test for the build-up of flammable methane gas. Prices are shown in either contemporary US dollars or Chinese coppers. See p. 193 of this. Aboveground, many miners suffered at the hands of the company men who short-weighed tonnage a man had loaded or docked his pay because slate was found mixed in with the coal. Acquiring a sense of humor helped mask a workers dread of the mine, but joking was no substitute for learning how to be careful. Includes wage data for Chicago as well. Published 1921. In 1923, there were about 883,000 coal miners; today there are about 53,000. This calculator allows you to compare the buying power of wages earned at different points in history. It was usually undertaken by women, and sometimes children. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (April 1931). Instead of paying miners by the ton, they hired them as employees and paid an hourly wage. Source: BLS, Shows the average price of foodstuffs and other common goods in the federal district of Mexico. After checking in, they climbed up a steep trail from the office to the portal of a mine. See table 164 for average annual wage. But to those who suffered alone in silence, the chorus offered hope and strength: Union miners, stand together! The Life of a Coal Miner | eHISTORY - Ohio State University Shows the average daily wages Greek workers were receiving in metal mines, lignite mines, smelting and refining plants, and quarries. Data is broken out byoccupation, sex and district. Includes a table showing. Source: BLS. Source: BLS Monthly Labor Review (June 1931), Shows the average hours and daily wages of various workers in quarries, sawmills, and many other industries throughout Virginia. The US Coal Industry in the Nineteenth Century PRICES in FOREIGN COUNTRIES, WAGES -- GENERAL SOURCES (all occupations and worker types), WAGES in AIRPLANE and AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURING, 1920s. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. After the Civil War, industrialization meant a nearly limitless demand for anthracite and bituminous coal, and hundreds of thousands of new jobs . Covers more than 1,200 cities. As former miner Gary Bentley of Kentucky remarked in a recent New York Times article, Its not going to make a comeback. Coal Miners - West Virginia Police department personnel salaries and wages. Table 25 shows additional breakouts for skilled and white collar workers by region (. From. Coal diggers gave up some of their hard-earned pay to aid fellow miners when they were sick or injured, and when a mine exploded, they risked their lives to rescue the survivors trapped inside. Tells cost of public transportation and railway fares as well. Total Pay. Managers worried about competition, costs, and controlling workers who spoke multiple languages and labored out of view. Heed no operators tale! Includes the states of RI, NJ, OH, DE, OK, MO, GA, TN, AR, KY, SC, AL and MS. Coal operators often provided services like company stores. After undercutting the face, the collier turned the crank on a five-and-a-half-foot-long breast auger and pushed with all his weight to bore a hole high on the face. At dawn, the workers reported to the payroll clerk in the company office, where they were handed numbered brass checks to attach to each coal car they loaded. Before the 1930s, many boys worked in mines. One-page table shows average charges for residential electricity each year from 1924-1934, for cities over 50,000 in population. A settlement was reached when the coal board added an extra pound to wage rates after two-and-a-half days' intensive negotiations at the industry's London headquarters. Source: BLS. About half of the surveyed penal institutions gave prisoners some compensation, based on its use as incentive toward good work and better behavior, and to provide the convict with a small way to provide for his family. Article compares the cost of renting versus buying a home in 1928. Postal Service. Furniture, bookcases, carpets and rugs, curtains, hanging lamps, lightbulbs, table and floor lamps, clocks. Source: The cost of living among wage-earners, Cincinnati OH, pp. Source: Median wages for butlers, chauffeurs, gardeners, furnace men and "house men" employed to work in private households in Philadelphia in the late 1920s. This was the room and pillar method of mining common in the Appalachian bituminous coalfields. In West Virginias colliers, miners were paid 49 cents per ton of clean coal, compared with 76 cents in the unionized mines of Ohio. "75 Years of American Finance: A Graphic Presentation 1861-1935" Coal miners homemade prosthetic leg, about 1950. One threat the animals and birds could detect was the odor of gas that oozed from the ancient vegetation compacted over the ages. Source: BLS. It was a dreadful experience Booker T. Washington never forgot. Wages are shown in contemporary U.S. dollars. Montgomery Ward catalog shows prices of radios and radio supplies on 60+ pages. Believed to be the worst coal mine disaster ever, an explosion at the Bnxh mine in Liaoning province killed 1,549 people in 1942. From, Average monthly wages by state,with and without board. 525. Bedroom: Source: BLS, Shows the daily wages and hours of workers in 4 different industries in Madrid. Wages are shown in German marks. Before the 1920s most miners were independent contractors. Dresses, dresses (in color), coats, bonnets and coats, hats, shoes, girl's toys. Typical compensation for directors, camera men, editors and more in, Shows typical earnings for reporters, feature writers, sports editors and others, in. By 2003 that number had dipped to just 70,000. The Miners' Strike of 1984 was a turning point in British history.