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The Occupations of English Immigrants to the United States, 1836–1853

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Raymond L. Cohn
Raymond L. Cohn
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Economics at Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61761.
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Abstract

This article examines the recent view that economic distress was not an important cause of English immigration before 1860. Demographic information is used to show that characteristics of males on suspect passenger lists (those that listed only laborers) matched those of laborers on other lists. Based on this result and other information, laborers appear to be the dominant group of immigrants. Support is thus provided for the view that distress was the most important cause of immigration, even though many other immigrants were not fleeing economic distress.

Type
Papers Presented at the Fifty-First Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , June 1992 , pp. 377 - 387
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1992

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