Editing World War I Impact (section)

== Labor and Population Changes ==

The war transformed Philadelphia's labor force. European immigration, which had supplied workers to Philadelphia's factories for decades during the [[Immigration Wave (1870-1920)]], halted with the outbreak of hostilities. At the same time, military enlistment and the draft removed tens of thousands of working-age men from the civilian workforce. The resulting labor shortage created opportunities for groups that had previously been excluded from industrial employment. African Americans from the South came north in unprecedented numbers, finding work in shipyards and factories that had never hired Black workers before. Women entered industries previously reserved for men, working as welders, crane operators, and in other positions that war emergency opened to them.<ref name="bodnar">{{cite book |last=Bodnar |first=John |title=The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America |year=1985 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington}}</ref>

These changes were not without conflict. White workers sometimes resisted working alongside Black workers, and racial tensions flared as competition for housing and jobs intensified. Women workers faced skepticism about their abilities and hostility from some male workers who saw them as threats to wages and job security. Labor unions struggled to respond to the changed workforce—some organized new workers, while others tried to exclude them. The war accelerated social changes that would continue to reshape Philadelphia for decades, even as it created tensions that would persist long after the armistice.<ref name="speakman"/>