Historic constructions of family budgets have been scarce in Spain. In fact, the first national Family Budget Survey was carried out in 1958. In this article, we present new evidence of different occupational groups’ incomes in Spanish provincial capitals (1914-1930). We also calculate the minimum cost of covering basic needs (food, housing, and other expenses) of urban working families. The main objective of the article is to estimate the capacity of men’s wages to sustain the family economy, as well as women’s contributions to the same. The main data sources are the Boletín del Instituto de Reformas Sociales 1904-1924 (Bulletin of the Institute of Social Reforms), the Anuario Estadístico de España 1914-30 (Spanish Statistical Yearbook), and the National Population Censuses (1910-1930), the food and nutrient totals prepared by García Barbancho (1960a and 1960b), and estimates of energy and nutrient requirements prepared by WHO/FAO and other specialists and institutions.

In this article we study the distinct formative stages of the labour market for external wet nurses employed by Galician foundling hospitals in the second half of the nineteenth century. We focus on changes in the nature of wet nurses’ work due to the benevolence laws (1822, 1836, 1849) that were driven by Spain’s liberal state. We also examine wet nurses’ socio-demographic profile and the geographic distribution of their labour markets. Finally, we explore the economic impact that Galician foundling hospitals had on rural districts, looking closely at the importance of external wet nurse wages for family budgets.