The Working Poor : Labour Strategies of Welfare Recipients in Helsinki, 1890–1970

This study discusses urban poverty and precarious work from early industrialization until the era of the welfare state in Finland. The dissertation analyses the labour strategies of individuals in the receipt of poor relief or social assistance allowances in Helsinki between the early 1890s and the late 1960s. The study focuses on three fields of work: street trade, home industries, and general labour, all of which were ridden with informality, irregularity and low income. Paradoxically, people participating in these fields were objects of heavy societal control, while simultaneously outside most social protection and labour rights. In addition to the analysis of the secondary labour market, the study focuses on the role of welfare provision in the income generation of the welfare recipients. The study is based on the analysis of 365 case files of households that received poor relief or social assistance in Helsinki between 1893 and 1970. The analysis applies both qualitative methods and descriptive statistics, the latter of which is combined with in-depth case studies. The data collection is inspired by the methodological principles of ‘Grounded Theory’. The study utilizes additional data sources, such as employment statistics and administrative accounts, alongside the inspector accounts of the recipient case files. The study reveals that the first half of the 20th century marks a noticeable transformation of the secondary labour market in Helsinki. Most of the classic poverty-related trades, such as petty trade, personal services and handicrafts, declined, went underground or transmuted into occupations and branches integral to the modern urban economy. This transformation was accompanied by changes in the forms of organizing work: self-employment was pushed aside while wage-work gained relevance especially from the 1950s onwards. Among individuals of assisted households, it was common to hold several jobs and occupations. The multi-occupational labour strategies were, however, gradually replaced by single-job strategies and the support from statutory social security. Individuals in small or single households were more likely to apply multi-occupational labour strategies. Women generally held a greater number of employments than men and were more often self-employed. Overall, households were elastic. Their composition, dwelling places and household members’ roles in income generation were constantly re-organized. The study shows that allowances offered true – albeit limited – support to the households. However, the poor-relief system steered the assisted individuals towards self-help methods and relief-work arrangements, which were not helpful in releasing them from the cycles of poverty. Moreover, workshops and relief-work arrangements consolidated the common view on certain occupations as hunger trades. These empirical findings suggest that precarization is not merely a trend that has shaped the labour markets of Western industrialized societies over the past few decades. In the first place, the labour market has been permeated by various forms of precarious work and employment ever since the early industrial period, and only the relatively short period of the so-called salaried society managed to mildly stabilize it. Today’s gig economy, platform work and sham self-employment all have their parallels in the late 19th- and early 20th-century urban economy. Therefore, histories of labour that extend their scope beyond waged labour are much needed. Moreover, the urban history of Helsinki is often told as a narrative of growing industries – and the ensuing economic success that these companies created. This dissertation contributes to this discussion by making visible the agency of those, whose work contributions boosted the processes of growth, but who had limited possibilities to improve their standard of living. This is an urban history of these disposable workers.

Grantor dc:publisher

Helsingin yliopisto

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Enbom, Leena

• talous- ja sosiaalihistoria

Statement dc:rights

• Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
• This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
• Publikationen är skyddad av upphovsrätten. Den får läsas och skrivas ut för personligt bruk. Användning i kommersiellt syfte är förbjuden.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10138/358134

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/358134