How Long Was the Workday in 1880?

Jeremy Atack and Fred Bateman

The Journal of Economic History, 1992, vol. 52, issue 01, pages 129-160

Abstract: This article develops the first comprehensive set of estimates of daily hours of work in 1880 using new data from the Census of Manufactures. We conclude that the average workday was almost exactly 10 hours in 1880 almost a decade earlier than hitherto supposed. Our statistical analysis also reveals small but statistically significant variations in hours between firms and industries, between regions, and by location. We also find that higher-paid workers probably substituted leisure for income, that total employment was unresponsive to hours, and that hours and days of employment during the year moved together.

Date: 1992
View citations in EconPapers

Downloads: (external link)
http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0022050700010299 link to article abstract page (text/html)

Related works:
Working Paper: How Long Was the Workday in 1880? (1990)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:jechis:v:52:y:1992:i:01:p:129-160_01

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The Journal of Economic History from Cambridge University Press
Address: The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU UK
Series data maintained by Mike Eden ().