So how does this history connect to our lives in the twenty-first century? I didn’t see the connection until I began to learn about the battles over hours and the accepted definition of a “reasonable” working day. Before the nineteenth century, people worked an average of six to eight hours a day and enjoyed dozens of days off throughout the year. In fact, even those in the lowest strata of society spent as much time at rest as they did at labor. Quite suddenly, people were expected to work punishing hours with no time off.
