The History of Labour Intermediation ― Institutions and Finding Employment in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Searching for a job has been an everyday affair in both modern and past societies, and employment a concern for both individuals and institutions. The case studies in this volume investigate job search and placement practices in European countries, Australia, and India in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The contributors explore how looking for work becomes a means by which participants (individuals, placement agents, trade unions, municipalities, administrations, state authorities, and schools) articulated specific interests, perspectives, and agendas. Taking an exploratory approach, the chapters illustrate different approaches to the history of employment and job searching, ranging from organizational and regulatory histories to the analysis of practices and autobiographical accounts. In the process, they uncover the interrelations of search practices and attempts to arrange placement services.

Alexander Mejstrik is a Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna, ERC-project “The Production of Work.” He is co-Editor of the Austrian Journal of Historical Studies and recently co-edited a special issue entitled Die Erzeugung des Berufs (1/2013) with Thomas Buchner and Sigrid Wadauer.