As the length of the workweek gradually declined, political agitation for shorter hours seems to have waned for the next two decades. However, immediately after the Civil War reductions in the length of the workweek reemerged as an important issue for organized labor. Roediger argues that many of the new ideas about shorter hours grew out of the abolitionists' critique of slavery — that long hours, like slavery, stunted aggregate demand in the economy. The hub of the newly launched movement was Boston and Grand Eight Hours Leagues sprang up around the country in 1865 and 1866. The leaders of the movement called the meeting of the first national organization to unite workers of different trades, the National Labor Union, which met in Baltimore in 1867. The passage of the state laws did foment action by workers — especially in Chicago where parades, a general strike, rioting and martial law ensued.
In only a few places did work hours fall after the passage of these laws. Many become disillusioned with the idea of using the government to promote shorter hours and by the late 1860s, efforts to push for a universal eight-hour day had been put on the back burner. Eastern European immigrants worked significantly longer than others, as did people in industries whose output varied considerably from season to season. High unionization and strike levels reduced hours to a small degree. The average female employee worked about six and a half fewer hours per week in 1919 than did the average male employee. In city-level comparisons, state maximum hours laws appear to have had little affect on average work hours, once the influences of other factors have been taken into account.
One possibility is that these laws were passed only after economic forces lowered the length of the workweek. Overall, in cities where wages were one percent higher, hours were about -0.13 to -0.05 percent lower. Again, this suggests that during the era of declining hours, workers were willing to use higher wages to "buy" shorter hours.
The long-term decline in the length of the workweek, in this view, has primarily been due to increased economic productivity, which has yielded higher wages for workers. Workers responded to this rise in potential income by "buying" more leisure time, as well as by buying more goods and services. In a recent survey, a sizeable majority of economic historians agreed with this view.
For example, roughly two-thirds of economic historians surveyed rejected the proposition that the efforts of labor unions were the primary cause of the drop in work hours before the Great Depression. Workers over the age of 18 can choose to opt out of the 48-hour limit for a certain period or indefinitely. This agreement must be made voluntarily and in writing by the employee; it can also be cancelled by the employee by providing the employer at least seven days' notice. However, signing the opt-out clause does not prevent workers from refusing to work for more than 48 hours per week. Any hours worked above the 48-hour per week fixed or, where appropriate, average legal working hours must be voluntary. Further, a premium must be paid in relation to any overtime.
Labor markets became very tight during World War I as the demand for workers soared and the unemployment rate plunged. These forces put workers in a strong bargaining position, which they used to obtain shorter work schedules. The move to shorter hours was also pushed by the federal government, which gave unprecedented support to unionization. At the end of the war everyone wondered if organized labor would maintain its newfound power and the crucial test case was the steel industry. These abnormally long hours were the subject of much denunciation and a major issue in a strike that began in September 1919. The strike failed (and organized labor's power receded during the 1920s), but four years later US Steel reduced its workday from twelve to eight hours.
The move came after much arm-twisting by President Harding but its timing may be explained by immigration restrictions and the loss of immigrant workers who were willing to accept such long hours . Because of changing definitions and data sources there does not exist a consistent series of workweek estimates covering the entire twentieth century. Despite differences among the series, there is a fairly consistent pattern, with weekly hours falling considerably during the first third of the century and much more slowly thereafter. In particular, hours fell strongly during the years surrounding World War I, so that by 1919 the eight-hour day had been won. Owen's nonstudent-male series shows little trend after World War II, but the other series show a slow, but steady, decline in the length of the average workweek. Greis's two series are based on the average length of the workyear and adjust for paid vacations, holidays and other time-off.
The last column is based on information reported by individuals in the decennial censuses and in the Current Population Survey of 1988. It may be the most accurate and representative series, as it is based entirely on the responses of individuals rather than employers. The Netherlands' average workweek for full-time employees is 37.3 hours, the second-lowest among the most affluent OECD countries.
With only 0.4% of employees working over 50 hours per week, the Dutch have some of the world's best work-life balance. Residents reported that they spend about 15.9 hours per day eating, sleeping, and leisure. In the United States, the 40-hour work week has been the law since 1940. As early as 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which basically required employers to pay employees overtime if they worked more than 44 hours per week. In fact, going back a little further, Henry Ford began advancing the idea of a shorter work week in 1914 when he scaled back from a 48 to a 40-hour work week.
It was his belief that longer hours were counter-productive causing workers to become fatigued and more prone to mistakes. Why then, do some countries, like Mexico, still have a 48-hour work week? That's a fair question and one that deserves an answer from those of us who live in Mexico and reap the benefits of the 48-hour work week. The swift reduction of the workweek in the period around World War I has been extensively analyzed by Whaples . His findings support the consensus that economic growth was the key to reduced work hours. He finds that the rapid economic expansion of the World War I period, which pushed up real wages by more than 18 percent between 1914 and 1919, explains about half of the drop in the length of the workweek.
The reduction of immigration during the war was important, as it deprived employers of a group of workers who were willing to put in long hours, explaining about one-fifth of the hours decline. The rapid electrification of manufacturing seems also to have played an important role in reducing the workweek. Increased unionization explains about one-seventh of the reduction, and federal and state legislation and policies that mandated reduced workweeks also had a noticeable role. Instead, FDR backed the National Industrial Recovery Act . Hunnicutt argues that an implicit deal was struck in the NIRA.
How Many Hours In A Typical Work Week Labor leaders were persuaded by NIRA Section 7a's provisions — which guaranteed union organization and collective bargaining — to support the NIRA rather than the Black-Connery Thirty-Hour Bill. Business, with the threat of thirty hours hanging over its head, fell raggedly into line. Despite a plan by NRA Administrator Hugh Johnson to make blanket provisions for a thirty-five hour workweek in all industry codes, by late August 1933, the momentum toward the thirty-hour week had dissipated. About half of employees covered by NRA codes had their hours set at forty per week and nearly 40 percent had workweeks longer than forty hours. The banner years for maximum hours legislation were right around 1910. This may have been partly a reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling upholding female-hours legislation in the Muller vs. Oregon case .
The Court's rulings were not always completely consistent during this period, however. In 1898 the Court upheld a maximum eight-hour day for workmen in the hazardous industries of mining and smelting in Utah in Holden vs. Hardy. In Lochner vs. New York , it rejected as unconstitutional New York's ten-hour day for bakers, which was also adopted out of concerns for safety. Several state courts, on the other hand, supported laws regulating the hours of men in only marginally hazardous work. By 1917, in Bunting vs. Oregon, the Supreme Court seemingly overturned the logic of the Lochner decision, supporting a state law that required overtime payment for all men working long hours. Men were allowed freedom of contract unless it could be proven that regulating their hours served a higher good for the population at large.
Some full-time employees also choose to work 55 hours per week. Working 55 hours per week, which is more hours than average for full-time workers, is considered a heavy workload. This schedule may be common for trade workers, medical professionals and other occupations.
If you work 55-hour weeks, it's important to make time to take care of yourself. Try to to make time for exercise, eat a healthy diet and manage your stress. It's also important to stay organised so you can maintain a healthy work-life balance. The ETI Base Code does not provide specific regulation on the number of hours per day that can be worked.
Nevertheless employers should seek to avoid long working days as these may put a worker's health at risk. There is a duty in the Base Code and national law to provide a safe system of work, which must prevent excessively long work shifts or continuous working. This is because of the health and safety risks that arise from excessive working time. In many countries national law will contain provisions related to either maximum daily working hours, minimum daily rest hours and rest days.
It should be remembered that ILO Convention No 1 called for the adoption of an 8-hour maximum day. Although our work week is longer, we have the benefit of enjoying a generous vacation schedule that provides the rest and rejuvenation needed after many weeks of hard work. Additionally, because our labor laws set limits on overtime, we all avoid the inevitable burn out that comes with working too much. Most employers in Mexico, including Centris, faithfully adhere to those overtime restrictions guarding against fatigue in the workplace. When employees feel that the work-life balanced is honored, then a slightly longer work day feels very do-able and even easy. The length of the workweek, like other labor market outcomes, is determined by the interaction of the supply and demand for labor.
On the other hand, longer hours can bring reduced productivity due to worker fatigue and can bring worker demands for higher hourly wages to compensate for putting in long hours. If they set the workweek too high, workers may quit and few workers will be willing to work for them at a competitive wage rate. Thus, workers implicitly choose among a variety of jobs — some offering shorter hours and lower earnings, others offering longer hours and higher earnings. A new cadre of social scientists began to offer evidence that long hours produced health-threatening, productivity-reducing fatigue. This line of reasoning, advanced in the court brief of Louis Brandeis and Josephine Goldmark, was crucial in the Supreme Court's decision to support state regulation of women's hours in Muller vs. Oregon.
In addition, data relating to hours and output among British and American war workers during World War I helped convince some that long hours could be counterproductive. Businessmen, however, frequently attacked the shorter hours movement as merely a ploy to raise wages, since workers were generally willing to work overtime at higher wage rates. The first thing that becomes clear is that successful professionals are working harder than ever. Even the 60-hour workweek, once the path to the top, is now practically considered part-time, as a recent Fortune magazine article put it. Our data reveal that 62% of high-earning individuals work more than 50 hours a week, 35% work more than 60 hours a week, and 10% work more than 80 hours a week. Add in a typical one-hour commute, and a 60-hour workweek translates into leaving the house at 7 am and getting home at 9 pm five days a week.
If we focus on the subset of those workers who hold what we consider extreme jobs , the hours are even more punishing. The majority of them (56%) work 70 hours or more a week, and 9% work 100 hours or more. During the 1920s agitation for shorter workdays largely disappeared, now that the workweek had fallen to about 50 hours. However, pressure arose to grant half-holidays on Saturday or Saturday off — especially in industries whose workers were predominantly Jewish. By 1927 at least 262 large establishments had adopted the five-day week, while only 32 had it by 1920.
The most notable action was Henry Ford's decision to adopt the five-day week in 1926. Ford employed more than half of the nation's approximately 400,000 workers with five-day weeks. However, Ford's motives were questioned by many employers who argued that productivity gains from reducing hours ceased beyond about forty-eight hours per week. Even the reformist American Labor Legislation Review greeted the call for a five-day workweek with lukewarm interest. Massachusetts' first hours law in 1874 set sixty hours per week as the legal maximum for women, in 1892 this was cut to 58, in 1908 to 56, and in 1911 to 54.
By 1900, 26 percent of states had maximum hours laws covering women, children and, in some, adult men . The percentage of states with maximum hours laws climbed to 58 percent in 1910, 76 percent in 1920, and 84 percent in 1930. Steinberg calculates that the percent of employees covered climbed from 4 percent nationally in 1900, to 7 percent in 1910, and 12 percent in 1920 and 1930. In addition, these laws became more restrictive with the average legal standard falling from a maximum of 59.3 hours per week in 1900 to 56.7 in 1920.
According to her calculations, in 1900 about 16 percent of the workers covered by these laws were adult men, 49 percent were adult women and the rest were minors. When Samuel Slater built the first textile mills in the U.S., "workers labored from sun up to sun down in summer and during the darkness of both morning and evening in the winter. Only attracted attention when they exceeded the common working day of twelve hours," according to Ware .
This agitation was led by Sarah Bagley and the New England Female Labor Reform Association, which, beginning in 1845, petitioned the state legislature to intervene in the determination of hours. The petitions were followed by America's first-ever examination of labor conditions by a governmental investigating committee. However, these laws also specified that a contract freely entered into by employee and employer could set any length for the workweek.
Legislation passed by the federal government had a more direct, though limited effect. On March 31, 1840, President Martin Van Buren issued an executive order mandating a ten-hour day for all federal employees engaged in manual work. ETI members generally set required working hours below 48 hours; for any which do not, the recommendation would also apply to employees in their own operations. This may be some way off in many countries, and bringing working hours down to the 48-hour standard will continue to be the priority for many ETI members. In some countries or situations part-time workers only get overtime premiums once they have worked more than the normal full-time hours for comparable workers. The important thing is to assess national law, the worker's contract, and any collective agreement, to identify the point at which overtime is deemed to start.
Contracted working hours refer to the number of hours which a worker may be required to work per week by his or her employer. This will normally be fixed at no more than 48 hours per week, unless a lower figure is set by national law or a collective agreement. The Fair Labor Standards Act states that any work over 40 hours in a 168 hour period is counted as overtime, since the average American work week is 40 hours - that's eight hours per day for five days a week. However, many employees work unusual shifts and go above and beyond this standard, putting in more than the average 40 hours. These are a few things you should know about hours and overtime labor laws. Data on the percentage of dependent employees who work part-time -- less than 30 hours a week -- also came from the OECD and is for 2018.
Additional data listed is all from the OECD and is for the most recent period available. All figures are annual except for unemployment figures, which are quarterly. All data on employee hours and part-time work are for dependent employees, meaning it does not include self-employed workers. Duke's "work schedule" is defined as the many functions that must be performed or fulfilled by members of the Duke community 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. The majority of work schedules are based on an 8-hour, 10-hour, or 12-hour workday, or on a 40-hour workweek or through an 80-hour biweekly pay period. Supervisors arrange staff work schedules when staff begin their service at Duke.
Supervisors must provide staff with 30 days advanced notice before permanently changing existing schedules. As in most industrialized countries, the standard work week in the United States begins on Monday and ends on Friday, with Saturday and Sunday being weekend days. According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average workweek for all employees (including part-time) working in private industries in the United States amounted to about 34.7 hours in 2021. In one month, the U.S. workforce works about 3.9 billion hours in total. By 1932 about half of American employers had shortened hours.
Rather than slash workers' real wages, employers opted to lay-off many workers and tried to protect the ones they kept on by the sharing of work among them. President Hoover's Commission for Work Sharing pushed voluntary hours reductions and estimated that they had saved three to five million jobs. Major employers like Sears, GM, and Standard Oil scaled down their workweeks and Kellogg's and the Akron tire industry pioneered the six-hour day.
Amid these developments, the AFL called for a federally-mandated thirty-hour workweek. Many employees are curious about how many hours they can work in a week. Part-time employees usually work fewer than 38 hours per week.
