ABSTRACT
One of the most telling criticisms of mobility as an antidote to unemployment was also an indictment of the effectiveness of labor exchanges. While unions and entrepreneurs confined their employment efforts to specified trades, public labor exchanges were available to a much broader spectrum of job-seekers. The municipal authorities who undertook to involve themselves as intermediaries between laborers needing jobs and employers needing men occasionally went too far. Factors such as technological progress, increasing professional specialization, the changing composition of demand, population growth, and industrialization all had profound effects on the German labor market. The occupational census data compiled reflects an overall decline in the absolute and relative importance of cottage industries. Between 1882 and 1895 a decline in secondary employment occurred among construction workers overall. Despite decreases in secondary occupations among construction workers between 1882 and 1907, alternate employment was not an insignificant factor in seasonal occupations.
