The Population-part three –The Proletariat-first half – yes a long one.
About two-thirds of the population made up the proletariat, split between agricultural workers and the urban manual laborers. Most had no assets and were at or below the poverty level.The proletariat existed entirely on the margin of society. Mobility between classes was very poor, with little hope of self-employment. The lack of capital to fall back on or invest in a business created a society that was barely capable of survival. Unemployment and job insecurity were rampant, with a third of the workforce expected to be unemployed at some time during the year. For the urban poor, lockouts or strikes contributed to this insecurity.
Individuals in the proletariat began working at age 15, after they finished Volksschule. Marriage regularly happened in a worker’s late 20s, coinciding with the period when his wage earning ability peaked. Income for the household increased when children, who still lived at home, worked. By the age of 40, a worker’s earning power and health was in a major decline. Poverty was a huge problem for the aged, and old age began very early by our standards. Widows represented the largest single group of extremely impoverished individuals.
Agricultural workers made even less money than their urban counterparts. However, both household servants and agricultural laborers generally received free room and board even though it was often substandard. Research has shown that some estate owners spent more on their pigs than on their hired hands. Agricultural laborers employed by the larger estates accounted for 40 percent of the working-class. As more workers moved to urban locations, chronic labor shortages among the peasants made family life difficult and resulted in the extensive use of child labor. Workweeks of 100 to 120 hours were common. To compensate for the labor shortages, 500,000 migrant workers from the Polish province came to Germany annually. The migrants returned to Czarist Russia at the end of the season, causing social and financial prejudices against the Polish migrant workers. Agricultural issues were not the same throughout imperial Germany. The institution of divided inheritance in some states required the division of farm holdings into smaller plots, resulting in fewer laborers, available for hire.
During the time of industrialization in German society, the population morphed from being predominantly rural to an urban majority. By 1892, the agricultural society along with their dependents represented 42 percent of the total workforce, compared with 35 percent in industry, and 20 percent in commerce. Just three years later in 1895, industry was the largest single sector and, by 1907, it had reached 42 percent, matching the agricultural percentage of 25 years earlier.
Urban workers of the proletariat differed from the craftsmen of the Mittelstand, as they were paid fixed wages, while a craftsman could enter into contracts for the delivery of specific goods. The urban working-class was a fluid workforce. Industrial personnel turnover rates of 50 to 100 percent were not uncommon. There was a core of skilled workers that the employers wanted to keep, and a “floating” labor force augmented them. Unemployment seemed to vary between 8 and 15 percent.
The average workweek for the urban proletariat was 75 hours as late as 1870. In certain industries, the week was even longer. Eventually, the urban workday fell from 12 hours to 9 ½ hours just prior to World War I. The six-day workweek was common, and legislation as far back as 1875 banned work on the Sabbath, but the laws were circumvented easily and employers openly abused the Sabbath. Not until 1892 did the government establish stricter laws requiring Sunday as a resting day for the working class. Working-hour legislation protected children and women; however, male workers were not so fortunate. Life expectancy for a man born in the 1870s was less than 37 years. For women it was 38 ½ years. By the first decade of the 20thcentury, the life expectancy had risen to 45 and 48 for men and women respectively.