Mapping the Second Industrial Revolution
This project maps the changing occupational structure of Great Britain across the Second Industrial Revolution, tracking both job loss and job creation. We explore this transformation at three levels of granularity: changes at the Order level, at the Industry level, and at the Micro-Occupations level.
1. Occupational Orders over Time
Click a year to view the treemap of the different sectors of the British economy by census year.
Orders ranked by growth, 1851–1911
Showing the growth in different sectors of the economy over the period. Sectors shown in blue are growing more rapidly than average population growth.
2. Occupational Industries: Growth and Decline
Showing growth by industry over the period. Note that the extreme outliers are primarily in industries which were very small or non-existent in 1851.
Population doubled over the period: any industry growing more than 100% outpaced population growth, industries which grew less lagged.
3. Micro-Occupations: Growth and Decline
Each industry is itself made up of many different jobs: micro-occupations. In moving one level deeper, we can see the distinct occupations within each industry. This makes it possible to track how they grew and declined over the 2nd Industrial Revolution.
Click the Dress order to open it up, then click a highlighted occupation to see how its tasks changed over time. Click the background to step back out.
4. Results
Growth
4.1 Map of New Jobs
Who fills the new jobs when an industry grows? The maps below show where new jobs emerged in three sectors — electrical trades, bicycles, and bootmaking — and who the fathers of those workers were. If geography is doing the work rather than family transmission, we expect to see the new workers drawn from a wide range of father occupations, not concentrated in the same trade as their fathers.
Electrical Trades: Where New Jobs Emerged
Bicycles: Where New Jobs Emerged
4.2 Map of mechanization
An initial mapping of the emergence of new technologies in the UK, by county.
4.3 Mapping of management jobs
An initial mapping of the rise of management jobs in the UK, by county.
Decline
4.4 Mapping of the apprenticeship system
The apprenticeship system declines everywhere between 1851–1911. The decline is more rapid after 1881. Less urban areas seem to retain more of the system than elsewhere. What is somewhat surprising is how different the decline is by level of skill — apprenticeships decline only slightly over the period; it is Masters and Journeymen who disappear.
Total Participation
Role Breakdown
5. Discussion
| Occupation | 1851 | 1861 | 1881 | Difference | OccScore | SonsScore |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coal Miners | ||||||
| Farmer, Grazier | ||||||
| Bricklayer | ||||||
| Mason | ||||||
| Carpenter, Joiner | ||||||
| Agricultural Labour | ||||||
| Blacksmiths | ||||||
| Butchers | ||||||
| Tailors | ||||||
| General Labour | ||||||
| Gardener | ||||||
| Innkeepers |