From the early 1900’s until the US entered WWI, millions of Europeans emigrated to the United States to provide essential labor needed in our factories. The American experience is increasingly urban. Most jobs required very little formal schooling. Only 14% of teenagers (14-17 year-olds) were in high school in 19151.
This decade was a watershed in aligning the interests of industry employers, vocational education and developing a growing theory of management for the modern industrial age that was to come. Still, our entry into WWI in 2017 and the 1918 Pandemic were powerful events impacting the availability of talent at the end of the decade.
1910’s Milestones:
- 1911 – The New York Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.2
- 1911 – The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Winslow Taylor was published.3
- 1913 – Psychology and Industrial Efficiency published.4
- 1913 – Department of Labor established.5
- 1913 – The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) workers was formed.6
- 1914 – Sir Ernest Shackleton recruits a crew to join the Endurance.7
- 1915 – Early Personality tests developed.8
- 1916 – The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act signed.9
- 1917 – Uncle Sam Poster – ‘I Want You’ first published.10
- 1917 – Smith-Hughes Act.11
- 1917 – The Army Alpha & Beta Cognitive Ability Tests developed.12
- 1919 – Yale U. creates a “Placement Bureau” for its graduates.13
- 1919 – Ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.14
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