Maximum Hours Legislation and Female Employment: A Reassessment

Abstract

The causes and consequences of state maximum hours legislation for female workers, passed from 1848 to the 1920s, are found to differ from a recent interpretation. Although maximum hours legislation served to reduce scheduled hours in 1920, the impact was minimal. Curiously, the legislation appears to have operated equally for men. Legislation affecting only women was symptomatic of a general desire by labor for lower hours, and these lower hours were achieved in the tight, and otherwise special, World War I labor market. Most important, the restrictiveness of the legislation had no adverse effect on the employment share of women in manufacturing.