There is a huge difficulty in comparing with apples and oranges. Was the life of a servant better or worse than a day labourer or a factory worker? Shop assistants wouldn't have such rough work, but would have to stand all day. Laundrymaids, sempstresses, matchbox makers would all have had difficult lives.
The traditional way of improving your circumstances is changing your job. Servants rarely appear in the same household in successive censuses. What we can't tell is whether our ancestors worked for different factory owners etc.
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The chestnuts cast their flambeaux
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