Although the percentage of Americans employed in manufacturing never rose above 10 percent of the laboring population in the mid-nineteenth century, industrial enterprises in the Northeast transformed the nation’s economy. In the 1830s and 1840s, factories grew considerably in size, and some investors, especially in textiles, constructed factory towns. Textile mills now relied heavily on the labor of girls and young women recruited from rural areas, while urban workshops hired varied groups of workers, including children, young women and men, and older adults. As industry expanded, however, working men’s access to highly skilled jobs declined. The panic of 1837 exacerbated this trend and also increased tensions within the working class, especially among workers from different ethnic and racial backgrounds.