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Store clerk -

Department stores were booming worldwide during the Roaring Twenties, complemented by the advent of all sorts of new household technology and appliances. Store clerks were in high demand.

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Bell boy -

Travel, for both business and pleasure was also booming, and consequently so was the hotel business. The unsung heroes of hotels, the glue that held the operations together, were the bell boys.

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Flight attendant -

Flight attendants in the 1920s? It may come as a surprise, but there were in fact full-service passenger planes even back then. One can imagine, however, how much more terrifying the job would have been 100 years ago.

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Salesperson -

With so many new and novel technologies being introduced seemingly every day, there was a huge increase of individuals employed to sell such products. Whether they were lurking the aisles of department stores or traveling door to door, salespeople were everywhere in the 1920s.

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Artificial limb maker -

Great strides have been made in the field of prosthetics over the decades, but they've been around for longer than you might think. Before the advent of fiberglass and microchips, artificial limbs were made from good old wood.

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Millwright -

Millwrights' days would be spent constructing and installing massive pieces of machinery that would then produce car parts, textiles, and just about every other factory product imaginable.

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Drayman -

Draymen, without much recognition, were the heroes of everyone's afternoons and weekends. Tasked with delivering barrels of beer all across the city, they certainly deserved as much of a round of applause then as they do today.

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Carpenter -

Carpentry is one of the oldest trades in the world, and will most likely never go obsolete. Whether they're building our houses or crafting our chairs and furniture, carpenters have always been an essential member of society.

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Chocolatier -

Chocolatiers in the 1920s were the wish granters of children and adults everywhere. The mass production of chocolate saw the appearance of classic and delicious candy bars.

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Teacher -

Teaching, one of the noblest professions and yet tragically underappreciated today, wasn't always so ignored. In the 1920s, teachers garnered much more respect and were revered by their communities for their service.

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Painter -

A job that is unlikely to ever become obsolete, painters benefited greatly from the construction boom of the early 1920s in the United States. With more and more houses, buildings, and entire neighborhoods being built every day, there was always something that needed a fresh coat of paint.

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Builder -

Some of the last and most essential participants of the massive architectural wonders of the 20th century were, of course, the builders and construction laborers themselves. Historically grossly underpaid for the important and dangerous jobs they did, it has almost always been guaranteed work.

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Accountant -

Some of the oldest written documents in the world, uncovered in Mesopotamia and dating as far back as the 35th century BCE, were accounts of food, livestock, and other goods, presumably written by ancient accountants. The job has stayed just as popular and essential all the way through the 20th century, and here in the 21st.

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Welder -

A job just as necessary today as it was 100 years ago, welders quite literally keep the world together. While the fumes associated with welding can pose serious health risks, the pay has been historically attractive.

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Coal miner -

When coal was the world's primary source of energy, miners were some of the most necessary and sought-after laborers on earth, from West Virginia to Siberia.

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Railroad worker -

The explosion of the railroad industry in the late 19th century stretched well into the 1900s, when trains were far and away the most common form of travel. Especially on the west coast, railroad laborers were in high demand.

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Steelworker -

The process of mass-producing steel, one of the most common building materials in the world, can be difficult and dangerous. Nevertheless, someone had to do it, and steelworkers were very common in the early 20th century.

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Typist -

These days, most people are their own typists, but this profession used to be filled with hundreds of thousands of skilled workers familiar with the ins and outs of typewriters.

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Weaver -

The clothing industry was one of the largest in the world during the 1920s. Many cities had entire districts dedicated to the process. The first step was to weave the raw materials.

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Garment worker -

Once the raw materials were prepared, it was time for the garment and textile workers to shine, making everything from shirts to jackets to shocks. As is so often the story, these essential workers were relegated to frequently dangerous and inhumane working conditions and were regularly overworked.

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Launderer -

Before self-serve laundromats, launderers were responsible for cleaning, drying, and ironing the clothes of those too busy to do it themselves.

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Chauffeur -

For the wealthy upper classes of society that saw taxis as beneath them, they would, and still do, employ chauffeurs to drive them from dinner party to gala and back to their mansion.

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Mechanic -

Mass-produced cars were still a recent revelation in most parts of the world in the 1920s, and the vehicles couldn't exactly be called reliable. While bad news for automobile owners, this meant there was never a shortage of work for mechanics.

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Server -

For as long as there have been restaurants, there have been servers. Restaurant work was just as popular a job in the 1920s as it is today for people looking to make ends meet.

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Sailor -

One of the oldest professions in the world, sailors were in particularly high demand when almost all international trading was facilitated through shipping boats.

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Blacksmith -

While smithing as a trade is sadly on the verge of obsolescence today, it was still thriving 100 years ago. If you needed anything made out of iron, you went to your local smithy.

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Barber -

Barbershops became more and more popular during the 20th century, and they wouldn't exist at all without the barbers themselves. More than just a place to get your hair cut, barbershops became prime social meeting places, and were always abuzz with gossip and conversation.

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Lumberjack -

A dangerous industry that has come under widespread and valid scrutiny in recent years, was once essential and constantly in need of workers.

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Telephone operator -

The backbone and the glue of communications for most of the 20th century were telephone operators, patching people in and out of their calls from across countries at all hours of the day or night.

Sources: (Stacker) (Newfoundland Heritage) (Wellcome Collection)

See also: This is the way they used to shop in the 20th century

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