How did the condition of secured labourers become insecure?
Answer:
- Earlier, it was common for labourers to live with landowners. They were at the master’s table and helped their master through the year, doing a variety of jobs.
- By 1800, this practice began to disappear. Labourers were being paid wages and employed only during harvest times.
- As landowners tried to increase their profits, they cut the amount they had to spend on other workmen. Workers became insecure, employment uncertain and income unstable. For a very large part of the year, the poor had no work.