Winning the Eight-Hour Day, 1909–1919

Robert Whaples

The Journal of Economic History, 1990, vol. 50, issue 2, 393-406

Abstract: The American workers' quest for an eight-hour day finally came to an end around 1919. I argue that the most important factors behind the rapid decline in manufacturing hours in the decade before 1919 include the rapid expansion of the economy, which increased wages and drew new participants into the manufacturing sector; the reduction of immigration during the war; the growth in organized labor's strength; federal and state legislation that mandated reduced work weeks; and the electrification of the manufacturing sector.

Date: 1990
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