Plumbing and the Job Marketplace

Trucks in a row outside Fred A. Heilbron & Sons Plumbing at 1446 Fifth Avenue. Without the increase in indoor plumbing there would be little incentive to open shops such as this.

The progression and development of plumbing within individual homes had distinct impacts on the workforce as well. There was a distinct increase in the total workers within the plumbing industry and allowed for the development of shops such as the one pictured to the left. Not everyone from the Midwest could continue to work as an agricultural laborer and plumbing provided a new and specified trade for people to explore. The two charts below show the way that the labor force was transitioning away from agriculture and into more specialized jobs. Specifically, there was a reduction of one million agricultural laborers in between 1930 and 1940. This is just another instance of the way that people in the United States at this time were in a period of transition and naturally this included the Okies.

Carl Schaffer's Plumbing Shop, Interior View, Anaheim. Individuals attempting to move away from agriculture started shops like these. With the demand for greater supplies, individuals like Carl Schaffer took advantage and opened shops like these to provide goods and services to their community.

These charts demonstrate the shift in the labor force. In between 1930 and 1940 there was a reduction of over 1 million workers in the agricultural field and an increase in over 30,000 in the plumbing industry.