Hours of Work and Shiftwork in the Early Industrial Labor Markets of Great Britain, the United States and Japan.

Abstract

As societies industrialize, hours of work decline and the amount of shiftworking varies. Several historical episodes are examined to see how labor systems influenced hours reductions. Chapter II investigates whether legal restrictions caused hours reductions. A hedonic model of hours of work and shiftwork is developed. Theoretical problems include determining whether worker characteristics belong in hedonic lines, modelling shiftwork as a continuous variable and specifying functional forms. Also, problems in estimating a structural hedonic model are considered and tests for binding legal constraints are developed. The empirical model is estimated for Japanese cotton weaving, 1903-1934. Estimation problems include pooling time series with cross section data and using proxies for omitted variables. Patterns of increases in the estimated price of longer hours indicate that not all hours reductions were legally m and ated. Instead, wartime labor dem and and technological change contributed. The next chapters examine situations in which the competitive model must be modified. In Chapter III the assumption that wages are perfectly responsive to changing market conditions is dropped. During the interwar period Southern textile firms may have extended night work rather than cut wages. A model is developed that associates high, disequilibrium wages with increased shiftwork. This prediction, which is contrary to the prediction of st and ard shiftwork models, is supported by evidence from Southern textiles. In Chapter IV the assumption that workers are perfectly sorted among firms based on their preferences for job attributes is modified, and the problem of workplace public goods is considered. The adoption of eight hour shifts in British and American steel industries is studied under the premise that shift lengths had to be collectively chosen. Until immigration was cut off, the American industry recruited labor to preserve the average worker's preference for a 12 hour shift. After 1914, preferences changed rapidly, but without a union steelworkers had to rely on government intervention to win shorter hours. In contrast, the British industry had good collective bargaining machinery and won the eight hour day earlier.