UNIONS: NOT the cause of our 40 hour workweek
UNIONS: NOT the cause of our 40 hour workweek
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UNIONS: NOT the cause of our 40 hour workweek! When economists and historians were surveyed, 88% of them either agreed or mostly agreed with the proposition that economic growth – NOT Unions – was to thank for our reduced workweek. In fact, only 5-6% thought that unions were the primary cause. [1] While this - by itself - does not constitute evidence, the following points DO: • In 1790 about 90%... of workers worked in agriculture. [2] They had almost no choice. People didn't have the luxury of ignoring food production. And until recent human history, 40 hours of labor a week generally wasn't productive enough to feed a family, so hours were long and labor was intensive. • Thankfully, as technology made it possible, fewer farms fed greater populations, and by 1990 the share of the labor force working in agriculture had dropped to only 2.6%. This decline occurred consistently throughout the decades. [2] [3] What's noteworthy is that freedom from these long hours and back-breaking labor didn't arise because someone passed a law mandating that everyone could stop working after only 8 hours and still magically have enough food to feed their families, rather it manifested because increases in productivity allowed people to leave the farm. Two of our sources confirm this was happening, one specifically noting the increase in per capita GDP from 1800 to 1860 [4] and the other noting its increase from 1890 and on. [5] • When people moved into manufacturing, they began working fewer hours over the decades. To confirm this, our video heavily relied upon two key sources. As the census explains, “Prior to 1913, except for the data in the Weeks Report and the Aldrich Reports, readily available data are extremely spotty and inadequate.” [6] The Weeks Report was part of the 1883 Census and the Aldrich Report was prepared for the 1893 Senate Committee on Finance. Since these are considered by most professionals to be the best sources from this era, they're what we used in our review. The data, despite well known inaccuracies, still show an undeniable trend. The average workweek declined from approximately 70 hours in 1830 to about 60 hours by 1890. [7] [8] As stated in the Weeks Report, “There having been a marked increase in the 10-hour period, and a marked DECREASE in the 12 to 13 and 13 to 14 hour periods between 1830 and 1880.” (FYI: the number of individuals working 8-9 hour work days was mostly unchanged at this point.) [7] • This, too, was the result of productivity increases; specifically, the implementation of steam power. As a 2006 National Bureau of Economic Research study concluded, after observing historical trends in labor productivity, “Controlling for firm size, location, industry, and other establishment characteristics, steam powered establishments had higher labor productivity than establishments using hand or animal power, or water power. ...The diffusion of steam power was an important factor behind the growth of labor productivity, accounting for 22 to 41 percent of that growth between 1850 and 1880..." [9] • In the 1900's, workweek hours declined again from around 55-60 hours to only 35-40 hours by 1938. This clearly demonstrates that the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was essentially unnecessary, at least in regards to establishing a 40 hour workweek as the standard. [10] [11] [12] [13] • Furthermore, it was found (Whaples 1990a) that high unionization and strike levels reduced hours only to a small degree. [10] In city-level comparisons, for instance, "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." "Overall, in cities where wages were one percent higher, hours were about -0.13 to -0.05 percent lower. ...This suggests that during the era of declining hours, workers were willing to use higher wages to 'buy' shorter hours." [10] • So despite the data showing a clear decline in work hours all occurring prior to Unions having successfully lobbied Congress to legislate the 40 hour standard, people still mistakenly believe that Unions were to thank for our 8 hour day and 40 hour workweek. Our graph, from the study "Trends in Hours: The U.S. from 1900 to 1950”, shows the decline from 1830 to 1990. We had already reached the 40 hour standard by 1938 WITHOUT the need for legislation. Furthermore, as this study states, the "decline was not even across workers: it benefited mostly low-wage earners who used to work the most in 1900.” [14] THE REALITY? Labor unions had been trying for decades to legislate a shorter workweek but their goals simply weren't mathematically feasible until per capita GDP and productivity had first increased. Once they DID increase the demands of Unions were finally possible. This is far different, however, from falsely concluding that their demands were the SOURCE of said advancement. Just as in 1791 when Philadelphia carpenters went on strike seeking a 10 hour work day or in 1835 when different Philadelphia strikers did the same. Just as in 1864, when the Chicago labor movement began demanding an 8 hour work day, similar to the National Labor Union in 1866 who declared it necessary to free people from "capitalist slavery." Just as with the Illinois strike of 1867, or the 8-hour proclamation declared by President Grant in 1869, the central demands of labor organizers in the 1870's, the objectives of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1884, or the American Federation of Labor in 1888, all of whom sought an 8 hour work day, little improvement could have resulted had the economic circumstances not first allowed it. Yes, unions demanded a shorter work day, and yes, unions demanded a shorter workweek, but PRODUCTIVITY INCREASES and ECONOMIC GROWTH gave it to us. ____________________ Citations: [1] (note: figures may not add exactly up to 100% due to rounding.) http:// [2] https:// [3] https://www.imf.org/ (also the source of one of the graphs depicted in the video) [4] http://www.nber.org/ [5] http://www2.lawrence.edu/ [6] http://www2.census.gov/ [7] U.S. Department of Interior (1883) Census (a.k.a The Weeks Report) http://www2.census.gov/ [8] The Aldrich Report from the 1893 Senate Committee on Finance. https://archive.org/ [9] http://www.nber.org/ [10] Whaples (1990a) http:// [11] Jones (1963) https://goo.gl/GszkyY [12] Owen (1976, 1988) https://goo.gl/7m0Xws [13] (source is cited merely to confirm when the FLSA was passed) http:// [14] http:// |
