In what ways did many workers' lives change as a result of the Industrial Revolution?

The Industrial Revolution changed workers' lives in many ways. Let us look at a few of them.

For one thing, industrialization involved mechanization, which meant that jobs once done by skilled workers were increasingly being done using labor-saving machines. Many workers who had been craftsmen became essentially unskilled workers as a result. For this reason, some skilled workers (most famously weavers in England) opposed, sometimes violently, the introduction of machines (like the power loom) in...

The Industrial Revolution changed workers' lives in many ways. Let us look at a few of them.

For one thing, industrialization involved mechanization, which meant that jobs once done by skilled workers were increasingly being done using labor-saving machines. Many workers who had been craftsmen became essentially unskilled workers as a result. For this reason, some skilled workers (most famously weavers in England) opposed, sometimes violently, the introduction of machines (like the power loom) in their industries. 

Another way workers lives changed is that their work became more regimented. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, work, while difficult and backbreaking, tended to be task oriented. Workers were paid by the number of items (shoes, for example) that they produced every day. Business owners often assigned quotas for production which allowed workers to be essentially on their own time--if they could meet their quota in a relatively short time, they could have the rest of the time off. More often, like students, they could procrastinate. The point is that workers were more in control of their own time. Industrial workers, however, were paid for their time, not how many goods they produced, and so factory owners became far more interested in disciplining their workforce to gain more efficiency. Their time was no longer their own.

As a consequence, workers often (but not always) labored under more difficult conditions than previously. The Industrial Revolution enabled the production of cheaper goods for consumers, but it often resulted in the decline of real wages for workers. Workers who produced more goods didn't see any additional profits from them--those went to the owners. The concentration of labor under a single roof, which was so important to the developing factory system, also led to very poor, often dangerous working conditions. These were almost totally unregulated in many countries before the twentieth century.