Shakespeare, William The Economy Of England During Shakespeares Time

Shakespeare, William: The Economy of England During Shakespeare's Time The Economy during William Shakespeare's Time England, during William Shakespeare's time was much different then it is today. There were no commercial buildings, cars, busses, offices, and factories back then. The economy was a lot different back then, the majority of the people lived in poverty, earning barely enough to survive. There were many causes for the poverty at that time, such as bad harvests, inflation, lack of jobs and a rise in population. While all these people were living in poverty, there was a small percentage of the population, which included big land owners, wealthy peasants and prosperous townsmen, who were able to make some money and become prosperous. It was a very diverse economic nation. Most of the people in England during Shakespeare's lived in rural areas. Most of these people involved in agriculture. There was a greater need for more people to be involved in agriculture back then, since they didn't have the modern farm equipment that we have today, which cuts down on the need for human labor. Everyone depended on the farmers for food. The majority of the people who farmed rented land to farm on from big land owners. The men would usually go out and farm while the women would stay home and work inside their house. Other people who lived in rural areas included craftsmen. When inflation struck (which made poverty worse) only the landowners who owned a lot of land made profit off renting their lands out to others to farm. The smaller landowners were losing out on money due to inflation, so a lot of the smaller landowners decided to enclose their land for pastures in order to raise sheep, which was more profitable then renting out their land to farmers. Since the smaller landowners stopped renting out their land, lots of farmers were put out of work and had to look for jobs in other places, most of them went to the cities looking for jobs. Because of the large number of sheep that were being raised in England, it's biggest export and industry was wool. There was around 10 million sheep being raised in England, which was about 4 times the population of England at that time. Most of the wool was processed into cloth at workers homes, most women spun and carded wool at home as an extra way of making income. The wool was sold to other countries in Europe so they could use it as raw material and make it into clothing and other things.(Singman 29) People who didn't live in rural areas lived in market towns which contained five hundred to five thousand people and others lived in big towns(only about eight percent of the population) with populations over five thousand people. Most of the people who lived in towns worked as craftsmen and tradesmen. Since there was almost no industry at that time, craftsmen and tradesmen were needed to make finished products such as furniture, clothes, and shoes. The most common of the craftsmen and tradesmen were shoemakers tailors, bakers, smiths, weavers, smiths and carpenters. Other jobs included going into servanthood, becoming a sailor ,becoming a soldier , and becoming a pedlar, whose job was to buy goods from one place and sell them elsewhere. The craftsmen and tradesmen would usually work in the upper part of their house and make the ground floor of their house the shop. An apprentice would work with a master craftsmen or tradesmen in order to learn a special skills. In exchange for the apprentices work the master would give him a place to stay and a small amount of money. Apprenticeships lasts around seven years, and after that the apprenticeship, the apprentice could go and try to start his own business. (Singman 30) The cost of clothing, furniture and other goods were expensive since they were handmade and not mass produced like today. People would try to make these goods last as long as possible. Some people made a living off buying old clothes and items, fixing them up and then resell them at markets.( Singman 34) People could sell their goods that they made or foods that they grew at markets.