Statute of Labourers 1351 - Wikipedia
The Statute of Labourers (25 Edw. 3. Stat. 2)[a] was an act of the Parliament of England under King Edward III in 1351 in response to a labour shortage, which aimed at regulating the labour force by prohibiting requesting or offering a wage higher than pre-Plague standards and limiting movement in search of better conditions.[1] The popular narrative about its success and enforcement holds that it was poorly enforced and did not stop the rise in real wages.[1] However, immediately after the Black Death, real wages did not rise, despite the labour shortage.[2] The Black Death, a pandemic of bubonic plague, killed more than one-third of the population of Europe[3] and 30–40% of the population in Britain[4] and caused a dramatic decrease in the supply of labour. Landowners suddenly faced a sharp increase in competition for workers to work for them. Labourers had increased bargaining power and commanded higher wages. The increase in labour cost also led to inflation throughout the economy.
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