Editing Working time (section)

=== United States ===
In 2016, the average man employed full-time worked 8.4 hours per work day, and the average woman employed full-time worked 7.8 hours per work day.<ref name="American Time Use Survey Summary"/> There is no mandatory minimum amount of paid time off for sickness or holiday but the majority of full-time civilian workers have access to paid vacation time.<ref name="title73 percent of all civilian workers had access to paid vacations in March 2016">{{cite web |url=https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/73-percent-of-all-civilian-workers-had-access-to-paid-vacations-in-march-2016.htm |title=73 percent of all civilian workers had access to paid vacations in March 2016 |access-date=2018-04-25 }}</ref>
[[File:US working hours 1950-2014.png|thumb|Average annual hours worked by persons engaged in the United States]]

By 1946, the [[United States]] [[United States federal government|government]] had inaugurated the 40-hour work week for all federal employees.<ref>California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 11, Cal. Resolutions 1946, Ch. 19</ref> Beginning in 1950, under the Truman Administration, the United States became the first known industrialized nation to explicitly (albeit secretly) and permanently forswear a reduction of working time. Given the military-industrial requirements of the Cold War, the authors of the then secret [[National Security Council Report 68]] (NSC-68)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/nsc-68/nsc68-2.htm |title=NSC-68, Beginning Section VI |publisher=Mtholyoke.edu |access-date=2011-01-31}}</ref> proposed the US government undertake a massive permanent national economic expansion that would let it "siphon off" a part of the economic activity produced to support an ongoing military buildup to contain the [[Soviet Union]]. In his 1951 Annual Message to the Congress, President Truman stated:
<blockquote>
In terms of manpower, our present defense targets will require an increase of nearly one million men and women in the armed forces within a few months, and probably not less than four million more in defense production by the end of the year. This means that an additional 8 percent of our labor force, and possibly much more, will be required by direct defense needs by the end of the year.
These manpower needs will call both for increasing our labor force by reducing unemployment and drawing in women and older workers, and for lengthening hours of work in essential industries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=13788 |title=Harry S. Truman: Annual Message to the Congress: The President's Economic Report |publisher=Presidency.ucsb.edu |access-date=2011-01-31}}</ref>
</blockquote>
According to the [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]], the average non-farm private sector employee worked 34.5 hours per week as of June 2012.<ref name=bls-employment>{{cite web |title=Average weekly hours and overtime of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted|url=http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t18.htm|work=Employment Situation|publisher=United States Bureau of Labor Statistics|access-date=17 July 2012}}</ref>

As President Truman's 1951 message had predicted, the share of working women rose from 30 percent of the labor force in 1950 to 47 percent by 2000 – growing at a particularly rapid rate during the 1970s.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web |url=http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/05/art2full.pdf |title=A century of change: the U.S. labor force, 1950–2050 |publisher=Monthly Labor Review |date=May 2002 |access-date=2011-01-31}}</ref> According to a [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]] report issued May 2002, "In 1950, the overall participation rate of women was 34 percent. ... The rate rose to 38 percent in 1960, 43 percent in 1970, 52 percent in 1980, and 58 percent in 1990 and reached 60 percent by 2000. The overall labor force participation rate of women is projected to attain its highest level in 2010, at 62 percent."<ref name=autogenerated1 /> The inclusion of women in the work force can be seen as symbolic of social progress as well as of increasing American productivity and hours worked.

Between 1950 and 2007 official price inflation was measured to 861 percent. President Truman, in his 1951 message to Congress, predicted correctly that his military buildup "will cause intense and mounting inflationary pressures." Using the data provided by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erik Rauch has estimated productivity to have increased by nearly 400%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/ |title= Productivity and the Workweek |publisher=mit.edu |access-date=2011-02-17}}</ref> According to Rauch, "if productivity means anything at all, a worker should be able to earn the same standard of living as a 1950 worker in only 11 hours per week."

In the United States, the working time for upper-income professionals has increased compared to 1965, while total annual working time for low-skill, low-income workers has decreased.<ref name="titleAn economic mystery: Why do the poor seem to have more free time than the rich? – By Steven E. Landsburg – Slate Magazine">{{cite journal |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/everyday_economics/2007/03/the_theory_of_the_leisure_class.html |title=The Theory of the Leisure Class: An economic mystery: Why do the poor seem to have more free time than the rich? |author=Steven E. Landsburg |journal=Slate |date=9 March 2007 |access-date=2008-01-28}}</ref> This effect is sometimes called the "leisure gap".

The average working time of married couples – of both spouses taken together – rose from 56 hours in 1969 to 67 hours in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bls.gov/opub/working/page17b.htm|title=Working in the 21st Century|publisher=U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics|access-date=2016-10-02}}</ref>

==== Overtime rules ====
Many professional workers put in longer hours than the forty-hour standard. In professional industries like investment banking and large law firms, a forty-hour workweek is considered inadequate and may result in job loss or failure to be promoted.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kuckes |first=Niki |url=http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/September-October-2002/review_kuckes_sepoct2002.msp |title=Legal Affairs |publisher=Legal Affairs |access-date=2011-01-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.calbar.ca.gov/404|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104004627/http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_cbj.jsp?sCatHtmlTitle=Top%20Headlines&sCatHtmlPath=cbj%2F2008-01_TH_01_Billable-hours.html|url-status=dead|title=The State Bar of California|archive-date=January 4, 2009|website=www.calbar.ca.gov|access-date=Jul 28, 2019}}</ref> Medical residents in the United States routinely work [[Medical resident work hours|long hours as part of their training]].

Workweek policies are not uniform in the U.S. Many compensation arrangements are legal, and three of the most common are ''wage'', ''commission'', and ''salary'' payment schemes. Wage earners are compensated on a per-hour basis, whereas salaried workers are compensated on a per-week or per-job basis, and commission workers get paid according to how much they produce or sell.

Under most circumstances, wage earners and lower-level employees may be legally required by an employer to work more than forty hours in a week; however, they are paid extra for the additional work. Many salaried workers and commission-paid sales staff are not covered by overtime laws. These are generally called "exempt" positions, because they are exempt from federal and state laws that mandate extra pay for extra time worked.<ref name="titleWhat do the terms exempt and nonexempt mean?">{{cite web |url=http://www.opm.gov/flsa/what.asp |title=What do the terms exempt and nonexempt mean? |access-date=2008-01-28 }}</ref> The rules are complex, but generally exempt workers are executives, professionals, or sales staff.<ref name="titleelaws - Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor">{{cite web |url=http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen75.asp |title=elaws – Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor |access-date=2008-01-28 }}</ref> For example, school teachers are not paid extra for working extra hours. Business owners and independent contractors are considered self-employed, and none of these laws apply to them.

Generally, workers are paid ''[[time-and-a-half]]'', or 1.5 times the worker's base wage, for each hour of work past forty. California also applies this rule to work in excess of eight hours per day,<ref name="titleOvertime">{{cite web |url=http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Overtime.htm |title=Overtime in California FAQ |access-date=2008-01-28 }}</ref> but exemptions<ref name="titleExemptions from the overtime laws">{{cite web |url=http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_overtimeexemptions.htm |title=Exemptions from the overtime laws |access-date=2015-03-17 }}</ref> and exceptions<ref name="titleExceptions to the general overtime law">{{cite web |url=http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_OvertimeExceptions.htm |title=Exceptions to the general overtime law |access-date=2015-03-17 }}</ref> significantly limit the applicability of this law.

In some states, firms are required to pay ''double-time'', or twice the base rate, for each hour of work past 60, or each hour of work past 12 in one day in California, also subject to numerous exemptions and exceptions.<ref name="titleOvertime" /> This provides an [[incentive]] for companies to limit working time, but makes these additional hours more desirable for the worker. It is not uncommon for overtime hours to be accepted voluntarily by wage-earning workers. [[Trade union|Unions]] often treat overtime as a desirable commodity when negotiating how these opportunities shall be partitioned among union members.