Sweatshops were a common form of employment in the early twentieth century. Sweatshop employees worked long hours in poor, and sometimes unsafe, conditions for meager wages. Paying workers so little allowed employers to maximize their profits. Because of the surge of immigrants during this time, workers were considered expendable, so employers did not hesitate to fire employees for something as trivial as missing a workday due to illness.
Sweatshops
Sweatshop employees were often poor immigrant women, teenagers and children.