Svenska arbetarlöner var högst i Europa i slutet på 1800-talet
1 September 2020
Grupporträtt med snickare och timmermän vid Münchenbryggeriet i Stockholm på 1890-talet.
Arbetarlönerna utvecklades snabbare i Sverige än i andra europeiska länder under 1800-talet. I slutet av seklet var de bland de högsta i Europa och allra mest ökade lönerna för de sämst betalda. Det här visar ny forskning från Uppsala universitet. Studien har publicerats i tidskriften The Journal of Economic History.
– I historieskrivningen beskrivs ofta det sena 1800-talets Sverige som ett fattigt land. Våra resultat visar att den synen behöver nyanseras. Även om det så klart fanns fattigdom skedde samtidigt stora förändringar och den okvalificerade arbetskraften ser ut att ha tillhört de som tjänade mest på utvecklingen, säger Johan Ericsson, forskare vid historiska institutionen vid Uppsala universitet.
Forskarna har undersökt den svenska löneutvecklingen inom byggindustrin under perioden 1831-1900. Med hjälp av bland annat löneuppgifter från Överintendentsämbetet som var Byggnadsstyrelsens föregångare och tidigare publicerad forskning i ämnet har de kunnat sammanställa löneutvecklingen för fyra olika kategorier av byggnadsarbetare: hantlangare, timmermän, murare och öken, de sistnämnda skötte transporter med dragdjur.
Resultaten visar att lönerna steg i hela landet och att löneskillnaderna minskade mellan olika kategorier av arbetare. De okvalificerade hantlangarnas reallöner var de som ökade mest, med 176 procent, under perioden.
Hantlangare i Sverige tjänade 30 procent mer än i Paris
För motsvarande arbetare i städer som Amsterdam, Antwerpen, Paris och London ökade lönerna med mellan 40 och 90 procent under samma tid. Det innebar att svenska hantlangares löner i slutet av seklet var runt 30 procent högre än motsvarande löner i Paris, Amsterdam och Antwerpen. Lönerna i London, som var de högsta i Europa, var ungefär 12 procent högre än genomsnittliga svenska löner.
Jämförelsen mellan länderna kunde göras sedan forskarna räknat om lönerna till så kallade ”welfare ratios”. Det går i korthet ut på att beräkna hur mycket av vissa varor som kunde köpas för en lön.
Minskat utbud av okvalificerad arbetskraft
Forskarnas slutsatser är att en arbetsmarknad med hög rörlighet i kombination med den stora utvandringen till Amerika, som minskade utbudet av okvalificerad arbetskraft, kan förklara varför de svenska lönerna växte så snabbt.
– En intressant iakttagelse är att arbetarlönerna ökade snabbare än de genomsnittliga inkomsterna i samhället. Idag pratas det mycket om hur globalisering och teknologisk utveckling leder till att arbetare får det relativt sett sämre. Våra resultat visar dock att det inte är någon naturlag. Tvärtom verkar det som att svenska arbetare under den här perioden gynnades av en sådan utveckling, säger Jakob Molinder, vid ekonomisk-historiska institutionen vid Uppsala universitet.
Publikation
Referens: J. Ericsson, J. Molinder (2020), Economic Growth and the Development of Real Wages: Swedish Construction Workers’ Wages in Comparative Perspective, 1831–1900, The Journal of Economic History. DOI: 10.1017/S0022050720000285
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