Work-weeks

The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most of the world, the workweek is from Monday to Friday and the weekend is Saturday and Sunday. A weekday or workday is any day of the working week. Other institutions often follow this pattern, such as places of education. The constituted weekend has varying definitions, based on determined calendar days, designated period of time, and/or regional definition of the working week (e.g., commencing after 5:00 p.m. on Friday and lasting until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday). Sometimes the term "weekend" is expanded to include the time after work hours on the last workday of the week (e.g., Friday evening is often referred to as the start of the weekend).

In some Christian traditions, Sunday is the " day of rest and worship". The Jewish '' Shabbat'' or Biblical Sabbath lasts from sunset on Friday to the fall of full darkness on Saturday; as a result, the weekend in Israel is observed on Friday–Saturday. Some Muslim-majority countries historically instituted a Thursday–Friday weekend. Today, many of these countries, in the interests of furthering business trade and cooperation, have shifted to Friday–Saturday or Saturday–Sunday as in the case of Saudi Arabia and UAE.

The Christian Sabbath is just one day each week, but the preceding day (the Jewish Sabbath) came to be taken as a holiday as well in the 20th century. This shift has been accompanied by a reduction in the total number of hours worked per week. The present-day concept of the "weekend" first arose in the industrial north of Britain in the early 19th century. The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America union was the first to successfully demand a five-day work week in 1929.

Some countries have adopted a one-day weekend, i.e. either Sunday only (in seven countries), Friday only (in Djibouti, Iran and Somalia), or Saturday only (in Nepal). However, most countries have adopted a two-day weekend, whose days differ according to religious tradition, i.e. either Friday and Saturday, or Saturday and Sunday, or Friday and Sunday (in Brunei Darussalam, Aceh province (Indonesia) and state of Sarawak (Malaysia)), with the previous evening post-work

History

A continuous seven day cycle that runs throughout history, paying no attention whatsoever to the phases of the moon and having a fixed day of rest, was most likely first practised in Judaism, dated to the 6th century BC at the latest.

In Ancient Rome, every eight days there was a nundinae. It was a market day, during which children were exempted from school and agricultural workers stopped work in the field and came to the city to sell the produce of their labor or to practice religious rites.

The French Revolutionary Calendar had ten-day weeks (called ''décades'') and allowed ''décadi'', one out of the ten days, as a leisure day. From 1929 to 1940, the Soviet Union utilized a calendar with five and six-day work weeks, with a rest day assigned to a worker either with a colour or number.

In cultures with a four-day workweek, the three Sabbaths derive from the culture's main religious tradition: Friday ( Muslim), Saturday (Jewish, Adventist), and Sunday (Christian).

The present-day concept of the relatively longer 'week-end' first arose in the industrial north of Britain in the early 19th century and was originally a voluntary arrangement between factory owners and workers allowing Saturday afternoon off starting at 2 pm on the basis that staff would be available for work sober and refreshed on Monday morning.Waiting for the Weekend, Witold Rybzinski, 1991 The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' traces the first use of the term ''weekend'' to the British magazine ''Notes and Queries'' in 1879.

In 1908, the first five-day workweek in the United States was instituted by a New England cotton mill so that Jewish workers would not have to work on the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. In 1926, Henry Ford began shutting down his automotive factories for all of Saturday and Sunday, due to pressures stemming from the October Revolution, which witnessed the ruling class persecuted for not giving the laborers dignifying conditions. In 1929, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was the first union to demand and receive a five-day workweek. The rest of the United States slowly followed, but it was not until 1940, when a provision of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act mandating a maximum 40-hour workweek went into effect, that the two-day weekend was adopted nationwide.

Over the succeeding decades, particularly in the 1940s to 1960s, an increasing number of countries adopted either a Friday–Saturday or a Saturday–Sunday weekend to harmonize with international markets. A series of workweek reforms in the mid-to-late 2000s and early 2010s brought much of the Arab World in synchronization with the majority of countries around the world, in terms of working hours, the length of the workweek, and the days of the weekend. The International Labour Organization (ILO) currently defines a workweek exceeding 48 hours as excessive. A 2007 study by the ILO found that at least 614.2 million people around the world were working excessive hours.

Length

Actual workweek lengths have been falling in the developed world. In the United States, the workweek length reduced slowly from before the Civil War to the start of the 20th century. There was a rapid reduction between 1900 and 1920, especially between 1913 and 1919, when weekly hours fell by about eight percent.Hunnicutt, B.K. (1984) The end of shorter hours
May 1984Labor History 25(3):373-40

''Labor History'' 25:373–404 In 1926, Henry Ford standardized on a five-day workweek, instead of the prevalent six days, without reducing employees' pay.Lombardo, C.N. (February 4, 2010
"Shorter Workweek in a Tough Economy"
''Wisconsin Employment Law Letter'' (hrhero.com) Hours worked stabilized at about 49 per week during the 1920s, and during the Great Depression fell below 40. During the Depression, President Herbert Hoover called for a reduction in work hours in lieu of layoffs. Later, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which established a five-day, 40-hour workweek for many workers. The proportion of people working very long weeks has since risen, and the full-time employment of women has increased dramatically.Rones ''et al.'' (1997
"Trends in Hours of Work since the Mid-1970s"
''Monthly Labor Review'' 120(3):3–12

The New Economics Foundation has recommended moving to a 21-hour standard workweek to address problems with unemployment, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities, overworking, family care, and the general lack of free time.Stuart, H. (January 7, 2012
"Cut the working week to a maximum of 20 hours, urge top economists"
''The Guardian''Schachter, H. (February 10, 2012
"Save the world with a 3-day work week"
''Globe and Mail''Baker, D. (January 27, 2009
"Pass the stimulus – then help shorten the work week"
''New York Daily News''Abate, T. (July 11, 2010
"Get to Work: Want more jobs? Shorten the workweek"
''San Francisco Chronicle'' page D-3 The Center for Economic and Policy Research states that reducing the length of the work week would slow climate change and have other environmental benefits.

Around the world

Table

Africa

Ethiopia

The official government working week is Monday to Friday; 8 hours per day, except Friday which is 7 hours, and 39 hours in total per week. Official work hours run from 08:30 am to 05:30pm with 1 hour for lunch from 12:30pm to 01:30pm. On Friday, lunch hour runs from 11:30am to 01:30pm to allow Muslims attend to Friday prayers. Saturday and Sunday are public holidays. The private sector often follows different schedule with most of them often working on Saturdays.

Morocco

Despite being an Islamic country, Morocco does not follow workweek conventions implemented in many Middle Eastern countries. The standard workweek in Morocco is from Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday being public holidays.

South Africa

In South Africa the working week traditionally was Monday to Friday with a half-day on Saturday and Sunday a public holiday. However, since 2013 there have been changes to the working week concept based on more than one variation. The week can be 5 days of work, or more. The maximum number of hours someone can work in a week remains 45.

Americas

Brazil

As a general rule, Brazil adopts a 44-hour working week, which typically begins on Monday and ends on Friday, with a Saturday–Sunday weekend. Brazilian Law, however, also allows for shorter Monday-to-Friday working hours so employees can work on Saturdays or Sundays, as long as the weekly 44-hour limit is respected and the employee gets at least one weekend day. This is usually the case for malls, supermarkets and shops. The law also grants labor unions the right to negotiate different work weeks, within certain limits, which then become binding for that union's labor category. Overtime is allowed, limited to two extra hours a day, with an increase in pay.

Chile

The working week in Chile averages 45 hours, most often worked on a Monday–Friday schedule, but is not uncommon to work on Saturdays. Retail businesses mostly operate Monday through Saturday, with larger establishments being open seven days a week.

Colombia

In general, Colombia has a 48-hour working week. Depending on the business, people work five days fo
a maximum of 8 hours per day
typically Monday to Friday, or six days for eight hours a day, Monday to Saturday.

Mexico

Mexico has a 48-hour work week (8 hours × 6 days), it is a custom in most industries and trades to work half day on Saturday. Most public employees work Monday to Friday as well in some office companies. Shops and retailers open on Saturday and Sunday in most large cities.

United States

The standard working week in the United States begins on Monday and ends on Friday, 40 hours per week, with Saturday and Sunday being weekend days. However, in practice, only 42% of employees work 40-hour weeks. The average workweek for full-time employees is 47 hours. Most stores are open for business on Saturday and often on Sunday as well, except in a few places where prohibited by law (see Blue law). Increasingly, employers are offering compressed work schedules to employees. Some government and corporate employees now work a 9/80 work schedule (80 hours over 9 days during a two-week period)—commonly 9-hour days Monday to Thursday, 8 hours on one Friday, and off the following Friday. Some government or corporate employees work a 10/40 schedule—10 hours per day over 4 days, usually with Fridays off. Jobs in healthcare, law enforcement, transportation, retail, and other service positions commonly require employees to work on the weekend or to do shift work.

Asia and Australasia

Australia

A five-day, 40-hour week was introduced nationally from 1 January 1948 following a ruling of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. A 44-hour week, usually taken as a half-day on Saturday, had been applied for some industries from 1927 following a ruling by the court in a case brought by the Amalgamated Engineering Union. The ruling "led to a gradual and more general reduction of hours across industries", culminating in a nationwide 44-hour week in 1939.

In Australia the working week begins on Monday and terminates on Friday. An eight-hour working day is the norm. Working three weekdays a fortnight, for example, would therefore be approximately twenty-four hours (including or excluding traditional breaks tallying up to two hours). Some people work overtime with extra pay on offer for those that do, especially for weekend work. Shops open seven days a week in most states with opening hours from 9am to 5:30 pm on weekdays, with some states having two "late night trading" nights on Thursday and Friday, when trading ceases at 9pm. Many supermarkets and low-end department stores remain open until midnight and some trade 24/7. Restaurants and cinemas can open at all hours, save for some public holidays. Bars generally trade seven days a week but there are local municipal restrictions concerning trading hours. Banks trade from Monday to Friday, with some branches opening on Saturdays (and in some cases Sundays) in high demand areas. The Post Office (Australia Post) trades Monday to Friday as per retail shops but some retail post offices may trade on Saturdays and Sundays in some shopping centers. A notable exception to the above is South Australia whereby retail establishments are restricted to trading between the hours of 11am-5pm on Sundays.

China

In China, there is a five-day Monday–Friday working week, prior to which work on Saturday was standard. China began the two-day Saturday–Sunday weekend on May 1, 1995. Most government employees work 5 days a week (including officials and industrial management). Most manufacturing facilities operate on Saturdays as well. However, most shops, museums, cinemas, and commercial establishments open on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Banks are also open throughout the weekend and on most public holidays.

During the period of public holidays, swapped holidays are common between the actual h