Wages, Secondary Workers, and Fertility: A Working-Class Perspective of the Fertility Transition in England and Wales

Abstract

The focus of the analysis in this study is on the economic benefits parents derive from their children and the impact of these on fertility transitions. Particular attention is given to the working class in Victorian England and Wales. The life-cycle drop-off in adult productivity among this class created a need for additional income at later stages of the family life-cycle. This income was mostly generated by children and adolescents. Hence, it is suggested, that not until the substantial rise in real wages during the last quarter of the nineteenth century could fertility among the working class in England and Wales have started its decline. This hypothesis is shown to be consistent with data on occupation-specific fertility levels taken from the 1911 Fertility Census.