The Standard of Living of the Workers in a Spanish Industrial Town: Wages, Nutrition, Life Expectancy and Height in Alcoy (1870–1930)

Abstract

Many studies carried out on the evolution of the standard of living have shown that it is advisable to use several indicators as there is no single indicator that reflects all of the dimensions of well-being or that does so without incurring value judgements. Following this line of research, this study examines the well-being of the workers of Alcoy during the industrialisation process using four indicators: real wages, nutrition, life expectancy and height. As happened in other European industrialized regions some decades before, between 1870 and the end of the nineteenth century, we can observe a “puzzle” as two indicators point to an increase in the standard of living and the other two reveal the opposite. The “puzzle” later disappears because from the beginning of the twentieth century to 1930 the four indicators show that well-being increased.