Amish people work. Often they farm, but they also work in other jobs and businesses. Their church recommends acceptable types of work, which may vary among churches. If they can’t work, they rely on their families and communities for help. Amish usually don’t accept welfare, food stamps or use unemployment insurance.
Farming is hard work, especially for the Amish. They like to use old ways such as teams of horses for ploughing or harrowing. Amish typically have several children, and it’s not possible for everyone to inherit the farm. Some big farms may be divided and passed to two or three children, but perhaps more typical is that the farm is passed to one son, often, but not always, a young one. The parents usually aren’t ready to retire when the oldest sons come of age and want to marry, so those sons must find other work. Farms are not usually passed to daughters.
The best off-farm work are jobs that keep men close to home and within an Amish or Mennonite community. Crafts such as cabinet or furniture making, sawmilling, or construction are popular. Making buggies, crafting harnesses and other leather goods, repairing clocks and watches, repairing engines, or working in dry good stores are example of other good jobs. Amish churches discourage factory jobs or work that places their people in non-Amish environments for extended times.
The man in the family is the principal breadwinner, but Amish women work too. They care for children and managing the home, including most cooking, laundry, and other household jobs. Sometimes they work for pay with sewing or quilting, selling food in local stands or stores, waitressing, midwifing, or nursing. At least one Amish woman is a writer who uses computers for her work. Sherry Gore wrote, “The Plain Choice,” which is her story of choosing the Amish way after having a difficult early life. She grew up moving between divorced parents, married twice herself, had three children, one of whom has passed away, and turned to the Amish when she was in her early thirties. She is now settled in an Amish church in Florida as a single woman. She has permission from her church to use the computer, and she is able to stay close to her family by working from home.
Other people tell of leaving the church. “If You Leave This Farm,” by Amanda Farmer tells her tale of growing up in a Mennonite family led by an abusive (not sexually) father who insisted on controlling everything in her life. Her mother deferred to her father. As Amanda grew through her teens and early adult years, she spent most of her time working with the dairy herd. She was in her twenties when she ate her first meal in a restaurant with friends and when she had her first date. She got completely away at age 29 to a career in nursing, eventually becoming a nurse anesthetist. Her early life, however, was a harrowing fight for independence amidst endless hours of work.
Amanda’s experience was probably uncommon. Generally the Amish church is growing and most young people choose to stay—and work.
The following photo gallery shows small stories about work. They were taken in November 2018 in central Pennsylvania. Click on the first photo to enter the gallery, move through it with the left and right arrow keys, and press ESC or click on the X in the upper right to exit.
