Changing approach to work hours

1800s: Industrial Revolution, with 13- to 14-hour days, 70- to 80-hour weeks the norm in many countries. Labor refrain: "I work from can't see to can't see."

1886: Fight for shorter hours begins. May Day Labor refrain: "Eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, eight hours for what we will!"

1926: Henry Ford's auto plants introduce a 40-hour week.

1933: The Black-Connery bill, which set the workweek at 30 hours with substantial overtime penalties, passes the U.S. Senate. Replaced by the idea of government job programs as a way of reducing unemployment.

1936-38: U.S. and France first to legislate a 40-hour week (occurs in 1940 in U.S.).

Post-World War II: Production gains fuel greater consumption but not a movement for shorter hours.

1965: U.S. Senate predicts a 14-hour workweek by 2000. Sociologists worry about what Americans will do with so much leisure time brought by coming technology.

1960s: Netherlands loses Saturday as a regular working day.

1973: Sweden reaches 40-hour standard.

1996: U.S. average hours per person per year pass Japan to lead mature industrialized countries, according to the International Labor Organization. ("Developing" countries Czech Republic and South Korea actually have more.)

2000: France legislates 35 hours per week as a standard. Workers in the Netherlands average 36; Denmark, 37; Norway, 37.5; Portugal, 40.

2003: U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Edward Kennedy introduce a resolution calling for October to be "National Work and Family Month," saying, "reducing the conflict between work and family life should be a national priority." It passes by unanimous consent.