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Long Hard Hours
Work in the mills, however, was both hard and dangerous. Most women worked twelve-hour shifts, six days a week, with few holidays.
By the 1830s, competition had lowered prices. As a result, mill owners increased the workload of spinners and weavers and lowered piece rates.mHousing conditions declined, overcrowding followed, and fewer women came to work in the textile mills.
Mill owners now turned to the Irish and other immigrants for their labor force.