THE AGE PROFILE OF YELISAVETGRAD’S INDUSTRIAL WORKFORCE (1880S – EARLY 20TH CENTURY): SECTORAL SPECIFICITY

Abstract

The source base of the study includes factory inspection reports, materials from the First General Population Census of 1897, factory and plant directories from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, electoral lists of workers eligible to vote in the State Duma elections of 1906 and 1912, as well as internal documentation from local metalworking enterprises (including the plants of the «V.A. Yaskulskyi» Company and A.L. Shklovskyi).The author establishes that in the 1880s virtually all employable age groups were engaged in industrial work at Yelysavetgrad’s enterprises, although their relative proportions gradually changed. In the 1880s, approximately 76% of the city’s industrial workforce were «adults» (aged 16 and above), while adolescents (boys aged 12–15) accounted for about 24%. In the following decades, a steady decline in the share of underage workers was observed. By 1894, adults made up around 85% of the industrial labor force, adolescents – 14%, and children aged 12–14 – only about 1%.The intensification of mechanical and machine-building production was accompanied by a growing demand for skilled adult labor: at the largest factories, the share of youth did not exceed 10–20% (e.g., 11% at the Elworthy Brothers’ plant), while at smaller, less technologically advanced workshops, adolescents could still constitute 40–60% of the workforce.Attention is also drawn to the trend of an «aging» labor force in the early 20th century, as clearly evidenced in statistical data. According to the electoral list of 1906, 51% of factory workers were over the age of 25. The 1912 electoral census revealed that the majority (over 60%) of industrial employees were between the ages of 28 and 42, while the proportion of minors had dropped to approximately 5%. A distinctive feature on the eve of World War I was the emergence of a core of highly skilled older workers (aged 48–86), particularly at the city’s largest enterprise – the Agricultural Machinery Plant of the «R. & T. Elworthy» Joint-Stock Company. This development reflects the growing institutionalization of worker qualification and the recognition of long-term service in the industrial sector.