Industrial development implied improving prospects for industrial employment. The effect upon total urban employment depended upon what was happening elsewhere in the economy, and it would be rash to make assumptions about the outcome. But amongst the regular reports of lawhundred juries which at first sight repeat themselves monotonously from term to term there is information of considerable interest for this aspect of Colchester's economic development in the late Middle Ages, implying that the consumption of foodstuffs in the town increased for over 50 years after the Black Death and that the number of inhabitants was growing. This is not the sort of evidence that can be used to calculate levels of income or production; the figures relate to burgesses reported for trading offences rather than to the measured output of goods and services. However, with a certain amount of interpretation the evidence is both free from serious ambiguity and consistent with other facets of the borough's economic history. The most valuable part of this material relates to the food and drink trades, which were subject to exceptionally close supervision at the lawhundreds.

The first set of details to be examined concerns millers, whose profession was well known for its proclivity towards sharp practice. Mill toll ought to have been taken at the rate of one grain in 24, but millers notoriously took more than they were entitled to. At every lawhundred a list of the mills where the miller had broken the rules was presented by the jury, and few mills in operation could be expected to run for more than a year or two without appearing in these lists.