Project

• Overview / Forward

This “Progressive Era” is better known in the US and Europe from a business perspective as the 2nd Industrial Revolution. The Industrial might of western countries now electrified laid the foundation for massive corporations and the pioneering challenge of managing large numbers of workers. This era is also known for rising activism driving social reform and political changes in an attempt to address extreme abuses foisted on a workforce that had little power.

For example, in 1900, 20% of the US workforce in industrial settings were children ages 10-14 who were hired with the approval of their parents.1

At its best, this era began to lay the foundation for the eventual rise of modern business management practices and the improved treatment of employees and candidates who were hired into the workforce.

Turn of the Century Milestones:

• 1873 – John Gabbitas begins recruiting schoolmasters for public schools in England. 2
• 1893 – One of the earliest US recruiting agencies was focused on engineering technology hires.3
• 1896 – The Plessy vs Ferguson Supreme Court decision establishes a legal foundation for a flawed “separate but equal” doctrine.4
• 1906 – National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education (NSPIE) founded.5
• 1906 – The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is published.6
• 1906 – Kitty Felton launches an employment agency in San Francisco.7

References

1. Children have been ‘leased out’ by their parents to supplement their family’s income for centuries. Large families were the norm and, until the 20th century, 35% of the US population failed to survive the end of childhood (age 20). History of child labor in the United States—part 1: little children working : Monthly Labor Review: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
2. Arguably the first known private employment agency, Robinson, Gabbitas & Thring, was founded by John Gabbitas who recruited schoolmasters for public schools in England. It is still in business nearly 150 years later. Heritage
3. Launched by Frederick Winslow Taylor to hire engineers, his agency later became part of General Employment Enterprises (GEE Group) who also owned Businessmen’s Clearing House (est. 1902)…all still in business today. F.W. Taylor is also considered the father of Human Resources and Industrial Engineering for his 1911 book on scientific management.
   About GEE
4. The Plessy v. Ferguson decision supported mandates for separate public facilities for whites and African Americans as not violating the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment creating segregation as a standard- “if the facilities are approximately equal” The doctrine was not overturned until Brown v. the Board of Education in 1954. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/plessy-v-ferguson
5. The creation of the NSPIE was likely the first formal Recruitment Marketing effort designed by the organization’s founders- 250 business and education leaders, to “educate the public about the importance of industrial education.” The NSPIE published bulletins, organized meetings and en-gaged in a variety of activities to promote (and influence) vocational education to fill needed openings.
   https://centraltech.edu/the-smith-hughes-act-the-road-to-it-and-what-it-accomplished/
6. “The Jungle is a 1906 novel that portrays the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. The book depicts working-class poverty, lack of social support, harsh working conditions, and hopelessness driven by employer greed and corrupt government officials.”
   The popularity of the book contributed to social legislation over the next two decades that impacted numerous worker safety laws.
   Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
7. Katharine ‘Kitty’ Felton, Director of Associated Charities in San Francisco since 1901 launched one of the first employment agencies in the US in response to the 1905 earthquake and fire. She also “developed mental health counseling to deal with the traumatized, became an advocate for foster care, and by combining private and public funds made it possible for widowed and single mothers to remain at home with their children. She also was responsible for emptying the refugee camps and finding placements for the dispossessed, all of which she accomplished within one year. These innovations became known as the “San Francisco Model” by 1907.” In 2006, the Felton Institute for Excellence in Clinical Training was named in her honor.
   Katharine Felton