Most Americans are all too familiar with the concept of a five-day workweek. Of course, this goes even further as many workers expect their jobs to last from nine until five. But still, American workers weren’t always safeguarded against working 40 hours per week. Here is exactly how the five-day workweek came to be.
Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University, explained that back in the early 20th century, it was not uncommon for Americans to work over 60 hours per week. In fact, in 1898, Massachusetts published a “labor bulletin” that revealed exactly how long certain people would work. Many domestic cooks worked as many as 83 hours every week, while factory workers worked an average of 58 hours a week. By then, many laborers began craving a change.
“Eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest,” was a phrase famously created by Welsh textile manufacturer Robert Owen, who went on to become a prominent labor reformer. With calls for labor reform rising throughout the United States, Chicago unions and political activists decided to launch a “May Day”, calling for an eight-hour workday. On Ma 1, 1886, the strike got underway. While it took a long time for the movement to gain steam, workers finally received fewer work hours in 1916, as America was considering entering World War I. A nationwide railroad workers strike was enough to place the US government under enough pressure to grant workers favorable conditions that prevail to this day.