Changes in Work Hours of Male Employees, 1940–1988

Abstract

This paper examines changes in work hours of male employees as reported in Decennial Censuses from 1940 to 1980 and in the 1980 and 1988 Current Population Surveys. Aggregate data analyzed in previous research do not reveal the changes in hours that have occurred among workers of different skills. Although median weekly hours were virtually constant from 1940 to 1988, the upper tail of the hours distribution fell for those with little schooling and rose for the well-educated. Hours declined for young and older men (especially black men), but changed little for white men in their prime working years.