Abstract

Everybody's Business

In certain restricted but influential circles abolition of the forty-hour week is being heavily plugged as a panacea for the man-power problem. The average work week in England is now fifty-six hours. There is nothing absolutely inaccurate about this passage, but it is misleading since there is no hint to the reader that the average English work week actually includes from eight to nine hours of overtime. The facts are that while the hours of labor of adult men are not limited by law in Great Britain, they are restricted in practically all industries by agreements between trade unions and employers' associations. The normal work week is forty-seven to forty-eight hours, with overtime paid at one and one-quarter to one and one-half times the standard rate and double time on Sundays.