Idle Hands: The Experience of Unemployment, 1790-1990 (Modern British History)

Idle Hands is the first major social history of unemployment in Britain covering the last 200 years. It focuses on the experiences of working people in becoming unemployed, coping with unemployment and searching for work, and their reactions and responses to their problems. Direct evidence of the impact of unemployment drawn from extensive personal biographies complements economic and statistical analysis. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 List of tables......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 10 INTRODUCTION......Page 12 UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE, 1790 1834......Page 21 A DYING TRADE: THE CASE OF THE HANDLOOM WEAVERS, 1790 1850......Page 53 UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG SKILLED WORKERS, 1815 70......Page 89 UNEMPLOYMENT ON THE LAND, 1834 1914......Page 133 THE 'DISCOVERY' OF UNEMPLOYMENT, 1870 1914......Page 156 'THE WORST OF TIMES?' UNEMPLOYMENT BETWEEN THE WARS......Page 210 BACK TO UNEMPLOYMENT, 1970 90......Page 276 CONCLUSION......Page 315 References......Page 327 Bibliography: autobiographies, diaries and memoirs (including collections)......Page 364 Index......Page 370 Unemployment has been an outstanding problem of modern Britain, and, at times, the overwhelming concern of domestic policy, overshadowing all other economic and social issues.