Working time

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Working time refers to the period of time that an individual spends at paid occupational labor. Unpaid labors such as housework are not considered part of the working week. Many countries regulate the work week by law, such as stipulating minimum daily rest periods, annual holidays and a maximum number of working hours per week.

Contents

[edit] Prehistory

Early humans were hunters and gatherers. Some estimates give that they had to spend 12-16 hours a day gathering just enough food to stay alive, leaving no time for socializing and entertainment.[citation needed] After the onset of agriculture, however, working time decreased dramatically.[citation needed]

However, anthropologists have in fact argued that more "primitive" forms of social organization result in more leisure time than is available in complex societies.[1] For instance, one camp of !Kung Bushmen was estimated to work two-and-a-half days per week, at around 6 hours a day.[2]

[edit] History

Popular belief depicts pre-industrial life as grim and full of toil. While the standard of living then certainly does not match that of today, several labor historians have pointed out that "full of toil" fails to describe pre-industrial life accurately. In those times, non-enslaved people generally worked fewer hours per year than they do today, though on a less regular cycle: their workweeks exceeded the modern standard during seasons when the extra work would be useful, but fell short of it during others. This depended on the productive system of the land. Intensive agriculture and pastoralism demand a variable amount of effort over the course of the year.

The industrial revolution made it possible to work year-round, since this labor was not tied to the season, and artificial lighting made work possible for the greater part of the day. Peasants, often manipulated into positions of debt and disadvantage by individuals of higher social class, moved from the farms to the factories to work at labor that was tedious and/or dangerous, for long periods of time. Technological advances during early capitalism made it possible to extract upwards of seventy hours per week of working time from a person. Before collective bargaining and worker protection laws, there was a financial incentive for a company to maximize the return on expensive machinery in spite of the suffering of workers. Records indicate that work schedules as arduous as twelve to sixteen hours per day, six to seven days per week, were demanded of wage earners. This nineteenth century work schedule was the most intense work effort in the history of labor.

The automobile manufacturer, Henry Ford, was an ardent proponent of shorter work hours which he introduced unilaterally in his own factories. Ford claimed that he pursued this policy for business rather than humanitarian reasons. He believed that workers (who were also the main consumers of products) needed adequate leisure time to consume products and thus perceive a need to purchase them. Over the long term, consumer markets needed to be grown. This ecological view of the economy has largely been abandoned as capitalism developed to a mature stage and short-term interests became prevalent.

Over the twentieth century, work hours declined by almost half, mostly because of rising wages brought about by a renewed economic growth, with a supporting role from trade unions and collective bargaining, and progressive legislation. The workweek, in most of the industrialized world, dropped steadily, to about forty hours after World War II. The decline has continued at a slower pace in Europe - for example, France adopted a 35-hour workweek in 2000 - but not in North America. Working hours in industrializing economies like South Korea, though still much higher than the leading industrial countries, are also declining steadily.

Technology has also continued to improve worker productivity, permitting standards of living to rise as hours declined.[3] However, in the absence of declining work hours in goods-producing industries, there has been a shift in the nature of output in national economies. Economic growth in monetary terms tends to be concentrated in health care, education, government, criminal justice, corrections, and other activities that are regarded as necessary for society rather than those which contribute directly to the production of material goods.[citation needed]

[edit] Annual hours over eight centuries

Time Type of worker Annual hours
13th century Adult male peasant, UK 1620 hours
14th century Casual laborer, UK 1440 hours
Middle Ages English worker 2309 hours
1400-1600 Farmer-miner, adult male, UK 1980 hours
1840 Average worker, UK 3105-3588 hours
1850 Average worker, U.S. 3150-3650 hours
1987 Average worker, U.S. 1949 hours
1988 Manufacturing workers, UK 1855 hours
2000 Average worker, Germany 1362 hours

(Compiled by Juliet B. Schor from various sources; Germany figure from OECD data)

[edit] Importance

Working time is a quantity that can be measured for an individual or, in the aggregate, for a society. In the latter case, a 40-hour workweek would imply that employed individuals within the society, on average, worked 40 hours per week. Most often, the concern of sociologists and policy-makers focuses on the aggregate variables. If an individual works 60 hours per week, it could simply mean that he or she is enthusiastic about his or her job, not a cause for concern. However, if long workweeks become the norm in a society, these hours almost certainly are not voluntary, and it represents a drought of leisure and a threat to public health.

Each society's definition of the ideal workweek differs, but most industrialized nations place this value between 30 and 40 hours per week, during non-vacation time, with between 3 and 5 weeks of (usually paid) vacation[citation needed].

If the work week is too short compared to that society's ideal, then the society suffers from underemployment of labor and human capital. All else being equal, this will tend to result in lower real incomes and a lower standard of living than what could be had with a longer work week in the same society.

In contrast, a work week that is too long will result in more material goods at the cost of stress-related health problems as well as a drought of leisure. Furthermore, children are likely to receive less attention from overworked parents, and childrearing is likely to be subjectively worse. The exact ways in which excessive workweeks affect culture, public health, and education are debated, but the existence of such a danger is undisputed.

Several nations have imposed limits on working time in order to combat unemployment. This has been done both on a national level, as in France's 35-hour workweek, and on the company-union level, for example the agreement between Volkswagen and its union to temporarily reduce the workweek to 29 hours to preserve jobs. This policy is controversial among economists.

[edit] The work week

The structure of the work week varies considerably for different professions and cultures. Among salaried workers in the western world, the work week often consists of Monday through Friday or Saturday with the weekend set aside as a time of personal work and leisure. This stereotypical structure of the work week has led to the coining of phrases reflecting shared states of mind or moods among workers as they traverse the week.

[edit] Mondayitis

Main article: Saint Monday

'Blue Monday' or 'Mondayitis' or "having a case of the Mondays" is a feeling of weariness and apathy that some workers express when starting the work week on Monday. The phrase entered the pop culture lexicon after its use in the 1999 American comedy film Office Space and it was said that "You get your ass kicked for saying something like that."

[edit] Hump day

'Hump day' is a synonym for Wednesday. The idiom is based on the notion that if a worker has made it half-way through the week, struggling uphill from Monday, that the rest of the week is an easier slide toward Friday and the weekend; the end is in sight from the hump, the top of the hill.

[edit] So Horrible It's Thursday

"So Horrible It's Thursday" is a phrase whose acronym represents how workers anticipating Friday and the weekend often feel about Thursdays. It is similar to the catchphrase "Thank Goodness It's Friday" but closer in spirit to "Blue Monday" above. The acronym can also represent "Sure Happy It's Thursday" and other variants.

[edit] TGIF

Main article: TGIF

'TGIF' is an acronym meaning "Thank God It's Friday" or more politically correct, "Thank Goodness It's Friday", an expression of relief that the work week is finally over and that even if the weekend is not full of leisure, at least the drudgery of the workplace is temporarily over.

[edit] Pau Hana

'Pau Hana' (pronounced "pow hana") is a Hawaiian phrase literally meaning, "finished work", but generally refers to the practice of leaving work early on Friday to start the weekend.

[edit] POETS day

Main article: POETS day

Another acronym meaning "Piss Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday", a term for Fridays, used in industries where it is common practice to finish work early at the end of the week. Variations on this are "Punch Out Early Tomorrow's Saturday" (referring to a manual punch time clock),"Push Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday" and "Push Off Early Tomorrow's Sunday" (based on the old 6 day work week). Used in UK [2] and Australia but appears less popular in the US.

[edit] Internationally

Several countries have adopted a workweek from Monday morning until Friday noon, either due to religious rules (observation of shabbat in Israel) or the growing predominance of a 35-37.5 hour workweek in continental Europe. Several of the Muslim countries have a standard Sunday through Thursday or Saturday through Wednesday workweek leaving Friday for religious observance, and providing breaks for the daily prayer times.

[edit] Differences among countries and recent trends

Annual work hours (source: OECD (2004), OECD in Figures, OECD, Paris. [1])
Annual work hours (source: OECD (2004), OECD in Figures, OECD, Paris. [1])

[edit] South Korea and Japan

By far, workers in South Korea have the longest work hours in the world. The average South Korean works 2,390 hours each year, according to the OECD. This is over 400 hours longer than the next longest-working country and 34% more hours than the average in the United States. A typical workweek in South Korea is 44 hours or longer. Most people start their day at 8am and end at around 7pm or later, often having dinner before returning to work. Until legislation in 2004 that virtually abolished the six-day workweek in large corporations known as "jaebol", South Korea was the only country in the OECD that worked Saturdays.[3]

Work hours in Japan are decreasing, but many Japanese still work long hours. Recently, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has issued a draft report recommending major changes to regulations that govern working hours. The centerpiece of the proposal is an exemption from overtime pay for white-collar workers.

South Korea and Japan are the only countries where death by work or "karoshi" is a recognized phenomenon.[4]

[edit] Western Europe

In most Western European countries, working time is gradually decreasing. The decrease is inversely related with productivity, though overall, less is produced. The European Union's working time directive imposes a 48 hour maximum working week that applies to every member state except the United Kingdom (which has an opt-out meaning that UK-based employees can work longer than 48 hours if they wish, but they cannot be forced to do so). France has enacted a 35-hour workweek by law, and similar results have been produced in other countries such as Germany through collective bargaining. A major reason for the significantly lower annual hours worked in Europe than in the United States is a greater amount of paid annual leave. Fixed employment comes with four to six weeks of vacation as standard.

[edit] Australia

In Australia, between 1974 and 1997 no marked change took place in the average amount of time spent at work by Australians of "prime working age" (that is, between 25 and 54 years of age). Throughout this period the average time spent at work by prime working-age Australians (including those who did not spend any time at work) remained stable at between 27 and 28 hours per week. This unchanging average, however, masks a significant redistribution of work from men to women. Between 1974 and 1997 the average time spent at work by prime working-age Australian men fell from 45 to 36 hours per week, while the average time spent at work by prime working-age Australian women rose from 12 to 19 hours per week. In the period leading up to 1997, the amount of time Australian workers spent at work outside the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays also increased (Bittman & Rice, 2002).

[edit] United States

In the United States, the working time for upper-income professionals has increased compared to 1965, while total annual working time for low-skill, low-income workers has decreased.[4] This effect is sometimes called the "leisure gap." In 2006, the average man employed full-time worked 8.4 hours per work day, and the average woman employed full-time worked 7.7 hours per work day.[5]

There is no mandatory minimum amount of paid time off for sickness or vacation. However, regular, full-time workers often have the opportunity to take about nine days off for various holidays, two weeks of sick leave and two weeks of paid vacation time, with some workers receiving additional time after several years.[6] Some workers[attribution needed] are afraid to take up their full entitlement in case it might jeopardise their job security.

Overtime rules

Many professional workers put in longer hours than the forty-hour standard. In professional industries like investment banking and large law firms, a forty-hour workweek is considered inadequate and may result in job loss or failure to be promoted.[7][8] Medical residents in the United States routinely work long hours as part of their training.

Workweek policies are not uniform in the U.S. Many compensation arrangements are legal, and three of the most common are wage, commission, and salary payment schemes. Wage earners are compensated on a per-hour basis, whereas salaried workers are compensated on a per-week or per-job basis, and commission workers get paid according to how much they produce or sell.

Under most circumstances, wage earners and lower-level employees may be legally required by an employer to work more than forty hours in a week; however, they are paid extra for the additional work. Many salaried workers and commission-paid sales staff are not covered by overtime laws. These are generally called "exempt" positions because they are exempt from the federal and state laws which mandate extra pay for extra time worked.[9] The rules are complex, but generally exempt workers are executives, professionals, or sales staff.[10] For example, school teachers are not paid extra for working extra hours. Business owners and independent contractors are considered self-employed, and none of these laws apply to them.

Generally, workers are paid time-and-a-half, or 1.5 times the worker's base wage, for each hour of work past forty. California also applies this rule to work in excess of eight hours per day.[11]

In some states, firms are required to pay double-time, or twice the base rate, for each hour of work past 60, or each hour of work past 12 in one day in California.[11] This provides an incentive for companies to limit working time, but makes these additional hours more desirable for the worker. It is not uncommon for overtime hours to be accepted voluntarily by wage-earning workers. Unions often treat overtime as a desirable commodity when negotiating how these opportunities shall be partitioned among union members.

[edit] Other countries

The Kapauku of Papua think it is bad luck to work two consecutive days. The !Kung Bushmen work just two-and-a-half days per week, rarely more than six hours per day. [12]

The work week in Samoa is approximately 30 hours[13], and though average annual Samoan cash income is relatively low, by some measures, the Samoan standard of living and quality of life are quite good.

[edit] Trends

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Farb, Peter (1968). Man's Rise to Civilization As Shown by the Indians of North America from Primeval Times to the Coming of the Industrial State. New York City: E. P. Dutton, 28. LCC E77.F36. “Most people assume that the members of the Shoshone band worked ceaselessly in an unremitting search for sustenance. Such a dramatic picture might appear confirmed by an erroneous theory almost everyone recalls from schooldays: A high culture emerges only when the people have the leisure to build pyramids or to create art. The fact is that high civilization is hectic, and that primitive hunters and collectors of wild food, like the Shoshone, are among the most leisured people on earth.” 
  2. ^ Cohen, Yehudi (1974). Man in Adaptation: the cultural present. Aldine Transaction, 94-95. ISBN 0202011097. “In all, the adults of the Dobe camp worked about two and a half days a week. Since the average working day was about six hours long, the fact emerges that !Kung Bushmen of Dobe, despite their harsh environment, devote from twelve to nineteen hours a week to getting food. Even the hardest working individual in the camp, a man named =oma who went out hunting on sixteen of the 28 days, spent a maximum of 32 hours a week in the food quest.” 
  3. ^ ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/opt/lpr/histmfgsic.zip
  4. ^ An economic mystery: Why do the poor seem to have more free time than the rich? - By Steven E. Landsburg - Slate Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  5. ^ American Time Use Survey Summary
  6. ^ Table 4. Average paid holidays and days of paid vacation and paid sick leave, full-time employees, 1997. Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  7. ^ Legal Affairs
  8. ^ California Bar Journal
  9. ^ What do the terms exempt and nonexempt mean?. Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  10. ^ elaws - Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor. Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  11. ^ a b Overtime in California FAQ. Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  12. ^ Robert Levine (1997). A Geography of Time. Basic Books. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
  13. ^ Pitt, David (1970). Tradition and economic progress in Samoa: A case study of the role of traditional social institutions in economic development. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198231563. “(...) findings generally agree on an average of about 28-30 hours work per week for an adult male village worker.” 

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

  • ShorterWorkWeek.com A collection of writings on the prospect of reducing work hours in the United States
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