The Boot and Shoe Trades in London and Paris in the Long Eighteenth Century

90 per cent of the men employed in the sector were paid by piece, while only 10
per cent were paid on a daily basis. This situation was quite different for women.
5 per cent of them were paid mainly on a daily basis, another 40 per cent by
piece, but the majority of them (55 per cent) were employed next to their
husbands, fathers or brothers. We can understand why the totality of women were
paid under 3 francs a day, while 56 per cent of men were paid from 3 to 5 francs a
day.
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Figure 7.3 - Methods of payment in Parisian shoemaking in
1847
Men Women
Source: Statislique de Ia vile de Paris (Paris, 1848), pp. 231-42.
7.5.2 The London shoe trade in the 1850s
0 As relatives
0 By piece
O By day or week or
month
Shoemaking was in 1851 one of the most common occupations in England
and Wales. With nearly 18,000 masters (against 11,000 tailors, 7,300
blacksmiths and 3,600 master builders), it gave work to 243,000 people (table
74)42
42 J.H. Clapham, An economic history of Modern Britain (Cambridge, 1926), vol. i, p. 24.
305