Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Migratory labor
(1,147 words)

1. Definition

Migrant laborers in the early modern period were a type of mobile workforce that, voluntarily and for primarily economic reasons, took up temporary work (usually for less than one year) at a place other than their normal abode (Occupational migration). Their temporary migration  necessitated specific arrangements with the other members of their household, with their co-workers, and sometimes with the entire rural community from which they…

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Lucassen, Jan and Lucassen, Leo, “Migratory labor”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 22 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_030016>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20190801



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