Family incomes in the industrial periphery. The urban centres of rural Mallorca and the Menorcan cities, ca. 1920-30

Abstract

[eng] This article estimates the income of working families in the rural manufacturing and agricultural districts of Mallorca and Menorca. It focuses on day labourer households consisting of a conjugal unit and dependent children (classified as type 3b in Laslett’s classification), a life stage marked by vulnerability. With this focus, we examine the relative contribution of the male head’s income in working-class households and explore whether contemporary socioeconomic changes affected manufacturing or rural families more profoundly. The findings highlight the significant challenges most households faced in purchasing basic goods, demonstrating that male income alone was insufficient to ensure family subsistence. This underscores the critical role of subsistence production, particularly within rural communities, as a form of shadow income that played a pivotal role in sustaining these households.