'They stopped paying for your lunch': Workers contemplate why 9-5s became 9-6s and 8-5s

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Apr 16, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

There's no question that the 8-hour workweek was a revelation back in the 1920s. I can't imagine having to work 12 hours a day every day without any weekends or breaks at all. It's no wonder people died at an earlier age back then; the stress of being worked to your bones is so bad for you, and we can never return to a place where that is the norm.

Unfortunately, things have not gotten much better for workers in the past 100 years. We've got fewer unions, and that tells you a lot of what you need to know. We are still doing the whole 8-hour workday thing, and while it's sustainable for some, others are still being stretched to their limits within the confines of this system. What were once 8-hour workdays are now being turned into 9-hour workdays. With commute time added in, we're marching closer and closer to the work schedule of a 1910s child working at a cruel factory.