<Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Gilded Age in United States history is the late 19th century, from the 1870s to about 1900 . The term for this period came into use in the 1920s and 1930s and was derived from writer Mark Twain's 1873 novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, which satirized an era of serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding . The early half of the Gilded Age roughly coincided with the middle portion of the Victorian era in Britain and the Belle Époque in France . Its beginning in the years after the American Civil War overlaps the Reconstruction Era (which ended in 1877), . It was followed in the 1890s by the Progressive Era . </P> <P> The Gilded Age was an era of rapid economic growth, especially in the North and West . As American wages were much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants . The rapid expansion of industrialization led to real wage growth of 60% between 1860 and 1890, spread across the ever - increasing labor force . The average annual wage per industrial worker (including men, women, and children) rose from $380 in 1880 to $564 in 1890, a gain of 48% . However, the Gilded Age was also an era of abject poverty and inequality as millions of immigrants--many from impoverished nations--poured into the United States, and the high concentration of wealth became more visible and contentious . </P> <P> Railroads were the major growth industry, with the factory system, mining, and finance increasing in importance . Immigration from Europe and the eastern states led to the rapid growth of the West, based on farming, ranching, and mining . Labor unions became important in the very rapidly growing industrial cities . Two major nationwide depressions--the Panic of 1873 and the Panic of 1893--interrupted growth and caused social and political upheavals . The South after the Civil War remained economically devastated; its economy became increasingly tied to cotton and tobacco production, which suffered from low prices . With the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877, African - American people in the South were stripped of political power and voting rights and were left economically disadvantaged . </P>

Who made up the majority of the work force during the gilded age