Winning the Eight-Hour Day, 1909–1919

Whaples, Robert

doi:10.1017/s0022050700036512

Cited by 36 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…On the other hand working hours had been falling since the 1890s, a trend that accelerated between 1909 and 1919 when the working week in manufacturing fell by a little over ten percent. The fall in hours occurred more gradually in the US than in Britain (though perhaps less smoothly than Whaples, 1990, suggests 7 ) and it owed something both to increased militancy and to changes in State hours laws, as well as to organizational shifts within firms in response to technological opportunities. But more importantly it took place against the background of sustained growth in labour productivity and slower growth in labour supply, as immigration dried up during the War.…”

Section: Labour Markets and Institutions In The 1920smentioning

confidence: 99%

Labour Markets in Recession and Recovery: The UK and the USA in the 1920s and 1930s

Hatton¹,

Thomas²

2013

The Great Depression of the 1930s

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We examine the labour market experience of the UK and the US in the recessions of the early 1920s and the early 1930s and the subsequent recoveries. These were deep recessions, comparable to that of 2008-9, but the recoveries were very different. In the UK the recovery of the 1920s was incomplete but that of the 1930s was rather less protracted than in the US. By contrast the US experienced very strong recovery in the 1920s but weaker recovery from the much deeper recession of the 1930s. A key ingredient to understanding these patterns is the interaction between economic shocks and labour market institutions. Here we survey the large literature on interwar labour markets to identify the key elements that underpinned labour market performance. We find that developments in wage setting institutions and in unemployment insurance inhibited a return to full employment in interwar Britain while in the US, New Deal legislation impeded labour market adjustment in the 1930s. We conclude with an assessment of the policy responses to labour market crises in the past and in the present.

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Section: Labour Markets and Institutions In The 1920smentioning

confidence: 99%

Labour Markets in Recession and Recovery: The UK and the USA in the 1920s and 1930s

Hatton¹,

Thomas²

2013

The Great Depression of the 1930s

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“…Adoption of the group or unit drive diminished time lost by making it possible to shut down only a single or a small number of machinery rather than the entire factory when a mechanical problem or need for speed change occurred. New technology and scientific management procedure, often believed to be closely related to electrification of production (Whaples 1990b), may have intensified the work as well. To take into account these potential impacts of utilizing electric power, the total horse power driven by electricity per production worker ( Electricity ) was included in the analysis.…”

Section: Industrial Characteristics Related To the Employment Of Oldementioning

confidence: 99%

Industrial Characteristics and Employment of Older Manufacturing Workers in the Early-Twentieth-Century United States

Lee

2015

Social Science History

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This study explores how industry-specific technological, organizational, and managerial features affected the employment of old male manufacturing workers in the early twentieth-century United States. Industrial characteristics favorably related to the employment of old industrial workers include high labor productivity, less capital- and material-intensive production, short workdays, low intensity of work, high job flexibility, and formalized employment relationship. Results show that aged industrial workers were heavily concentrated in “unfavorable” industries, suggesting that the contemporary argument of “industrial scrap heap” was applicable for most of the manufacturing workers in the early twentieth century United States.

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“…35. See Marshall in Dankert et al (1965); Owen (1969); and Whaples (1990). See Richardson (1896, p. 602).…”

Section: Final Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

The History and Political Economy of International Labor Standards

Engerman¹

2003

International Labor Standards

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Winning the Eight-Hour Day, 1909–1919

Cited by 36 publications

References 6 publications

Labour Markets in Recession and Recovery: The UK and the USA in the 1920s and 1930s

Labour Markets in Recession and Recovery: The UK and the USA in the 1920s and 1930s

Industrial Characteristics and Employment of Older Manufacturing Workers in the Early-Twentieth-Century United States

The History and Political Economy of International Labor Standards

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