Correction to: The Standard of Living of the Workers in a Spanish Industrial Town: Wages, Nutrition, Life Expentancy and Heigth in Alcoy (1870–1930)

1 Correction to: Soc Indic Res https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1776-0

In the original publication of this article, Section 5 was missed out and Conclusions part was published incorrectly. Now Section 5 is included, and correct Conclusions section has been provided in this erratum.

Correction 1: Section 5 is included, and the content for Section 5 starts from the line Figure 2 shows that between 1901 and 1930…

5 The Standard of Living of Workers in Alcoy (Beginning of the Twentieth Century–1930)

Correction 2: Conclusions section has numbered from 5 to 6.

6 Conclusions

Many studies reveal that it is advisable to analyse the evolution of the standard of living using several indicators as there is no single variable that reflects all of the components of well-being or does so without incurring judgement values. In this article, we have studied the standard of living of the workers in Alcoy between 1870 and 1930 using four indicators: real wages, nutrition, mortality and height. The conclusions of the study can be summarised as follows:

• 1. Between 1870 and the end of the nineteenth century, real wages and nutrition increased slightly, but life expectancy and height decreased. This “puzzle” can be explained by the “urban penalty” that existed, the high incidence of child labour and the harsh working conditions. Therefore, it seems correct to confirm that the standard of living decreased as the slight increase in consumption of the working class of the town masked the deterioration in health and working conditions reflected in morbidity, life expectancy and height.

• 2. This pessimistic panorama changed between the beginning of the twentieth century and 1930. Real wages increased as did nutrition, life expectancy and height. The increase in the well-being of the working class was undoubtedly due to the market (increased productivity and wages), but also to the State intervention. The sanitary reform of the town reduced the market failures that had given rise to the urban penalty, and the enactment of several laws that regulated child and adolescent labour contributed to improving the biological standard of living of the workers.

• 3. In our opinion, the scenario in Alcoy coincides with the model recently proposed by Floud et al. (2011, op. cit.) for the industrialisation process of the British cities. According to these authors, between 1810 and the mid-nineteenth century, real wages increased modestly as did nutrition. However, this slight increase in gross nutritional input was not sufficient to increase net nutritional input due to the harsh conditions of child and adolescent labour and the increase in morbidity related to the urban penalty. After 1870, better nutrition, the sanitary reform in the cities and the improved working conditions for children and adolescents would explain the decrease in mortality and the increase in height.