ABSTRACT
Historically, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1700s, workweeks for the production of goods and services were six days long, and hours were more than ten per day. The 70- to 72-hour workweek was common, with Sunday a holiday and work going from dawn to dusk during the six workdays of the week. Although the US economy was still primarily agricultural during most of the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution had taken hold, and many factories and offices employed an important part of the total work force. In 1926 Henry Ford made his famous announcement that Ford Motor Company would move to an eight-hour workday and five-day workweek. This was really an astonishing step, probably made partially to respond to worker pressure toward this end and partially to give auto workers more free time to enjoy. In 1938, the US Government mandated that federal government workers would have a five-day, 40-hour workweek.
