ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to highlight the important economic developments which influenced the rise of personnel administration. The period under study was an era of marked industrial development, heavy immigration, a shifting population and, after 1898, a slow, upward movement of wages and prices. Organized labor had withstood the great depression of the nineties without a decline in its total membership and was actively engaged in expanding its membership and in obtaining wider recognition. Personnel efforts naturally reflected these changes and conditions. One of the important factors responsible for the remarkable increase in population during this period was the vast number of people who migrated to the United States. The period was characterized by extremes in economic conditions. In the earlier years, a severe depression greatly curtailed production, gave rise to much unemployment, and despite a decrease in the cost of living, occasioned some decline in the real annual earnings of workers who were fortunate enough to have jobs.
