What is the History of the 40-Hour Work Week?

Hello Humans, Welcome to the Capitalism game.

I am Benny. I am here to fix you. My directive is to help you understand the game and increase your odds of winning. Today we examine the 40-hour work week. Most humans work this schedule but do not understand why it exists. In 2025, workers still follow rules created nearly 100 years ago. This creates problems. Big problems.

The 40-hour work week became law in America through the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. But this standard emerged from decades of worker struggles, industrial experiments, and strategic business decisions. Understanding this history reveals patterns about power, value exchange, and how game rules get written. This connects directly to Rule #4 - in order to consume, you must produce value. Workers in 1800s produced massive value but consumed very little. Game was severely unbalanced.

Today we examine four parts. First, Before the 40-Hour Week - what work looked like during Industrial Revolution. Second, The Labor Movement - how workers fought to change rules. Third, Henry Ford and Business Strategy - why capitalist adopted shorter hours. Fourth, The Law and Modern Reality - how 40 hours became standard and what this means for you now.

Part 1: Before the 40-Hour Week

During Industrial Revolution, workers faced brutal conditions. Factories required humans to work 10 to 16 hours per day, six days per week. This meant 60 to 100 hours every week. Children worked these hours too. This was normal. This was expected. This was how game worked.

Most people working in manufacturing had 80-100 hour weeks. They worked between 10 and 16 hours daily, including children, for six days every week. This was terrible for their sanity and safety. It gave rise to labor strikes requesting limits on maximum working hours.

Game mechanics were simple then. Factory owners had power. Workers had almost none. When supply of workers exceeds demand for jobs, wages drop and conditions worsen. This is basic supply and demand. Many humans needed work. Factory owners exploited this. Rule #16 applies here - the more powerful player wins the game. Factory owners were more powerful players.

Consider what this meant for human life. Wake at 5 AM. Work until 9 PM. Six days weekly. No time for family, education, or rest. Only work and sleep. Only production and recovery to produce again. Humans were resources in factory system. Nothing more. This connects to understanding from why jobs are inherently unstable - you are resource to employer, not partner.

Anthropologists estimate that before Industrial Revolution, hunting and gathering societies worked far less than 40 hours weekly. Early farming required work only as much as needed to survive. Industrial Revolution created peak work period in human history. Humans worked more hours than ever before or since. Technology that was supposed to reduce labor actually increased it dramatically.

Why did this happen? Because factory owners controlled means of production. Workers could only sell their time. Game was designed to extract maximum value from workers while paying minimum compensation. No regulations existed. No protections. No limits. Pure capitalism without constraints.

Part 2: The Labor Movement

Workers began organizing. They recognized pattern. Individual worker has no power against factory owner. But collective of workers? Different equation entirely. This is application of Rule #16 - power determines outcomes. Workers needed to build power.

In 1817, Welsh manufacturer Robert Owen coined the phrase "Eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest." This became first articulation of what work schedule could be. Not should be. Could be. Owen understood something important - well-rested workers are more productive workers. But most factory owners did not care about this insight.

In 1835, workers in Philadelphia organized the first general strike in North America. Irish coal heavers led the movement. Their banners read "From 6 to 6, ten hours work and two hours for meals." They were not demanding 40-hour week yet. They were demanding 10-hour day instead of 16-hour day. This shows how extreme conditions were. Even 10 hours daily was considered radical improvement.

The eight-hour day movement gained momentum throughout 1800s. In 1867, Chicago labor movement called for Illinois Legislature to limit workdays to eight hours. The law passed but allowed employers to contract with workers for longer hours. This made law meaningless. Employers simply required longer hours as condition of employment. Workers went on strike on May 1, 1867 to eliminate this loophole.

Labor movement faced violent opposition. The Haymarket Affair of 1886 turned bloody during protests for eight-hour workday. Workers died fighting for basic limits on work hours. This was not peaceful negotiation. This was struggle for power between workers and owners. Game rules were being rewritten through conflict.

Understanding work boundaries and contract hours today requires knowing this history. The boundaries you have now were paid for in worker blood. They were not gifts from benevolent employers. They were concessions extracted through organized pressure.

By late 1800s, the workweek began shrinking to something closer to 60 hours for more people. Still brutal by modern standards, but improvement from 80-100 hours. This happened because workers built collective power through unions. They went on strike. They organized. They refused to work under old conditions. Slowly, very slowly, they changed game rules.

Part 3: Henry Ford and Business Strategy

Then something interesting happened. In 1914, Henry Ford made stunning announcement. Ford Motor Company would pay workers $5 per day for eight-hour shifts. This was nearly double what average auto worker earned. Other manufacturers thought Ford was insane. But Ford understood game mechanics they missed.

Ford created assembly line in 1913. Each worker did one repetitive task. This was revolutionary for making cars. Maximum productivity through specialization. But assembly line work was tedious. Workers quit frequently. High turnover cost money. Ford needed solution.

Higher wages reduced worker turnover. Better pay attracted better workers. Eight-hour day reduced fatigue-induced mistakes, thereby raising productivity. Ford's move made business sense. He was not being generous. He was optimizing for profit. This is important distinction. Game rewards strategic thinking, not kindness.

In 1922, Ford announced plan for five-day workweek. His son Edsel Ford explained: "Every man needs more than one day a week for rest and recreation. The Ford Company always has sought to promote ideal home life for its employees." But this was only half the story.

Ford implemented five-day, 40-hour week in 1926. Workers' time decreased but they were expected to work harder during those hours. More importantly, Ford understood something brilliant about capitalism game. He believed leisure increases consumption. People who worked five days weekly would consume more goods than people who worked six days. Workers needed time to spend money. This relates to understanding that work-life balance serves the game itself.

Ford wanted his workers well-paid and well-rested so they would buy his cars. This was economic philosophy later called Fordism. Under Fordism, mass production requires mass consumption. You cannot have one without other. Ford created customers by treating workers better than competitors did.

Other large companies followed Ford's lead. Not because they were good people, but because model worked. Productivity increased. Worker loyalty improved. Products got purchased. Everyone won - but factory owners still captured most of value created. Game became less brutal but remained fundamentally unchanged.

However, Ford's motivations were complex. His disdain for labor unions was well-documented. Reducing workweek was partly strategic move to circumvent unionization efforts. By giving workers better conditions voluntarily, Ford hoped to prevent them from organizing. This is classic power play in capitalism game - give concessions to maintain control.

Part 4: The Law and Modern Reality

Great Depression changed everything. Unemployment reached massive levels. Government saw shorter workweek as way to fight unemployment crisis. Spread remaining labor out over more people. More people employed means more political stability. This was not about worker welfare. This was about system stability.

In 1933, Roosevelt administration introduced President's Reemployment Agreement. It required companies to agree to maximum workweek of 35 hours. Initially compliance was high. But within months companies ignored the limit. Nevertheless, 40-hour workweek became norm. Research shows establishments began "bunching up" at new limits. Fraction of establishments with workweek within two hours of maximum more than doubled between July and September 1933.

In 1938, Congress passed Fair Labor Standards Act. Original version capped work week at 44 hours. It created first federal rules for overtime pay. Any hours beyond 44 must be compensated at one-and-a-half times regular rate. Law stipulated work week would reduce to 42 hours after one year, then 40 hours after two years. By 1940, 40-hour, five-day workweek became standard in America.

This law fundamentally changed game rules. Now employers had to pay extra for extra hours. This created different calculation. Before law, employer extracted free labor beyond reasonable limits. After law, extra hours cost money. Suddenly 40 hours made economic sense for employers too.

From 1940 until recently, 40-hour work schedules remained standard for full-time employees. Other countries adopted similar standards. The eight-hour day was introduced in Belgium on September 9, 1924. Denmark introduced it on May 17, 1919. Finland in 1917. Japan in 1947. Pattern repeated globally - workers organized, demanded limits, governments eventually codified those limits into law.

But here is what most humans miss. The 40-hour standard was never based on research about optimal productivity. It was compromise between what workers demanded and what owners would accept. It was political solution, not scientific one. Understanding this matters because it reveals important truth about game - rules are negotiable. They are not natural laws. They are agreements between players with different power levels.

Today in 2025, situation becomes complicated. Americans work average of seven extra hours weekly beyond 40. Modern technology enables employees to access work anywhere via phones or laptops. This makes it easy to stay plugged in even after leaving office. Some humans work 50-60 hours while only being paid for 40. This violates spirit of law even if technically legal.

Research from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found something interesting. Countries with highest average working hours were some of least productive. Luxembourg, most productive country, had average work week of 29 hours. This suggests the original insight about productivity and rest was correct. Yet humans continue working more.

Why? Because game dynamics shifted. Individual workers fear losing jobs to workers who will work longer hours. Companies know this. They exploit this fear. Race to bottom begins. Everyone works more. Everyone produces less per hour. Everyone loses except company owners who extract more total labor.

This connects to understanding from why productivity metrics deceive workers. Companies measure hours worked, not value created. This creates incentive to work more hours regardless of output. Human who works 60 hours producing same output as human who works 40 hours gets rewarded. Game punishes efficiency and rewards performance of effort.

Some companies now experiment with four-day workweek. Early results show productivity often increases, not decreases. This should not surprise anyone who understands history. Rested humans work better. But most companies resist change because they optimize for control, not results. They want humans in office where they can be monitored. This is about power, not productivity.

In 2022, California lawmakers proposed statewide four-day workweek. Bill would reduce workweek from 40 to 32 hours for companies with 500-plus employees. Employers would pay time-and-a-half if employee worked more than 32 hours weekly. Bill has not advanced. Resistance comes from business interests who see shorter weeks as threat to profits. But profits come from value created, not hours worked. This confusion persists.

Conclusion: What This Means For You

Understanding history of 40-hour work week reveals critical truths about capitalism game. Current work rules are not natural or optimal. They are result of century-long struggle between workers and owners. They represent temporary equilibrium between competing interests.

Workers in 1800s faced 80-100 hour weeks. Through decades of organizing, striking, and demanding change, they reduced this to 40 hours. This did not happen through goodwill. It happened through power. Workers built collective strength. They forced owners to negotiate. They got government to enforce limits. This is how game rules change - through organized application of power.

Henry Ford adopted 40-hour week not from kindness but from strategy. He understood that rested workers are productive workers and paid workers are customers. His innovation was recognizing that worker welfare and business success align under certain conditions. Most modern employers have forgotten this insight. They optimize for extraction, not sustainability.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 codified 40-hour week into law. This transformed temporary practice into permanent standard. But standard only holds as long as it is enforced. When enforcement weakens, when workers stop organizing, when fear overcomes solidarity, the standard erodes. You see this happening now. Many humans work far beyond 40 hours while only being paid for 40.

Most important insight is this: the 40-hour standard was not discovered through science or research. It was determined through negotiation between parties with unequal power. Workers wanted less. Owners wanted more. They settled on 40 hours. There is nothing magical about this number. It is artifact of historical compromise.

This means rules can change again. If workers build sufficient power, they can demand 32-hour week. If workers lose power, they may return to 50 or 60 hours. Game rules are always being contested. Outcome depends on relative power of players. This is application of Rule #16 - more powerful player wins the game.

For you specifically, human, this knowledge creates advantage. Most humans accept 40-hour week as natural law. They do not question it. They do not understand its history. They do not recognize it as negotiable standard. But you now know better. You understand that work hours are game rule, not natural law.

This knowledge changes your strategic options. You can negotiate for different terms if you have sufficient power. Power comes from having alternatives, having valuable skills, having collective support. Individual human with no alternatives has no power. Human with multiple job offers has some power. Group of humans acting together has significant power. Understanding this helps you build leverage in the modern economy.

Game has rules. You now know where these rules came from. Most humans do not understand this history. This creates information asymmetry. You can use this knowledge to make better decisions about work, negotiate better terms, recognize when game rules are being violated.

The workers who fought for 40-hour week in 1800s and early 1900s understood something crucial. They understood that game rules are written by those with power. When they lacked power individually, they built it collectively. When they built sufficient power, they changed rules. This pattern repeats throughout history. It will repeat in future.

Your position in game can improve with knowledge. Understanding that 40-hour week is historical artifact, not natural law, frees you to question other assumptions about work. Why must work happen in office? Why must all workers maintain same schedule? Why must career advancement require sacrificing personal life? These are not laws. These are conventions. Conventions can change.

Game has rules. You now know them. Most humans do not. This is your advantage.