The demand for agricultural wage labour was highly seasonal, limiting the possibilities of converting it into a regular source of income. The development of agrarian capitalism contributed to this, which led to a productive specialisation in which the participation of women was lower than in the manufacturing and service sectors. The S’Estorell estate was located in the parish of Binissalem, at the foot of the Tramontana mountain range, and was the largest estate in the municipality and one of the ten most profitable on the island, with a valuation of 52,000 pounds according to the land registry of 1685. It covered 520 hectares, occupying the valley of Almandrá up to the first peaks of the mountain range in the villages of Alaró and Selva. For the exploitation of the estate, a fixed and daily labour force was hired, where the choice of workers was in the hands of the owner and the administrator, who relied on information provided by people they trusted in the nearby villages. This type of agreement was made through women who organised the gangs in the villages, while for the different tasks, contracts were made through the intermediary of foremen. Other matters, such as harvesting contracts, were offered to the highest bidder in the town square. On average, 29 labourers were hired each year, working 148 days: this accounted for 22% of the people hired and 40% of the working days. These labourers carried out a wide variety of tasks: ploughing fields, working in vineyards and orchards, making oil and tending livestock.
Collection: Statistics
Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.
Chronology: XVII
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Link: https://www.historiaagraria.com/FILE/articulos/RHA80_jover_pujadas.pdf
Resource type: Statistics
Format: Table
Source: Jover–Avellà, Gabriel y Pujadas–Mora, Joana María, «Mercado de trabajo, género y especialización oleícola: Mallorca a mediados del siglo XVII», Historia Agraria, 80 (2020), pp. 37–69.
Language: Spanish
Date: 2020
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Copyright: © Gabriel Jover-Avellá, ©Joanna María Pujadas-Mora © Revista de Historia Agraria
Abstract: Hired personnel and time spent working in a Mallorcan region during the 17th century
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