Eight hours per day, five days per week. This is the working schedule around which labor activists rallied in the 19th and 20th centuries. Less than a century after the Fair Labor Standard Act codified the 40-hour week in the United States, however, the schedule has lost its luster. In a tight labor market following the upheaval of an ongoing pandemic, many across the world are questioning whether it’s time for the typical work schedule to evolve once again. Luckily, many countries and companies have tested shorter workweeks, which supply insight into whether less work is useful, or even feasible.
Further reading:
Journal of Economic History
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2123280
Economic History Association
https://eh.net/encyclopedia/hours-of-work-in-u-s-history/
https://eh.net/encyclopedia/history-of-workplace-safety-in-the-united-states-1880-1970-2/
Encyclopedia.com
https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/working-conditions-factories-issue
Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-10/the-six-hour-workday-works-in-europe-what-about-america
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-03/swedish-six-hour-workday-trial-runs-into-trouble-too-expensive
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-22/yes-working-from-home-makes-you-more-productive-study-finds
BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38843341
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220322-the-realities-of-the-four-day-workweek
Swedish Nursing Study Results - Pacta Guideline Research
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349947796_Longitudinal_experimental_evaluation_of_reduced_weekly_working_hours_for_assistant_nurses
Global News
https://globalnews.ca/news/8005603/four-day-work-week-iceland/
Iceland Trials Final Report - Association for Democracy and Stability
https://autonomy.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ICELAND_4DW.pdf
Eurostat
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tps00071/default/table?lang=en
New Zealand Herald
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/its-official-four-day-week-becomes-permanent-at-kiwi-company-perpetual-guardian/MB7NO37T25EZDC7IJCY4F7ZXZY/?c_id=3&objectid=12135036
The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/05/20/pushing-for-a-shorter-work-week/5b3c4505-07ba-439a-bb62-97e18b821535/
Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2022/02/15/belgium-is-the-latest-country-to-join-the-four-day-workweek/?sh=50ec601178f2
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2021/03/15/spain-is-the-latest-country-to-try-a-four-day-workweek/?sh=1b8c5286f1da
Institute for the Study of Labor
https://ftp.iza.org/dp8129.pdf
Monthly Labor Review
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41838141
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment, and Health
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24100465/
Gallup
https://news.gallup.com/poll/175286/hour-workweek-actually-longer-seven-hours.aspx
Our World in Data
https://ourworldindata.org/working-hours
PBS
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/triangle-fire-deadliest-workplace-accidents/
U.S. Department of Labor
https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/flsa1938#2
Center for Strategic & International Studies
https://www.csis.org/analysis/do-not-blame-trade-decline-manufacturing-jobs#:~:text=The%20share%20of%20manufacturing%20employment,are%20skewed%20by%20the%20pandemic).
Notre Dame Journal of International and Competitive Law
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjicl/vol9/iss1/3/
US News
https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2022-01-10/2022-sees-a-labor-market-reaching-full-employment
The Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-a-four-day-week-the-future-of-work-11627704011?mod=article_inline
Connect with Cheddar!
On Facebook: https://chddr.tv/3JmGgBe
On Twitter: https://chddr.tv/3qaYQog
On Instagram: https://chddr.tv/36u8tqY
On Cheddar.com: https://chddr.tv/37GycgL