Did you know that the 40-hour workweek is 70 years old?

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 made the eight-hour day and the 40-hour workweek the law of the land. Another 70 years have passed since passage of the FLSA but the standard workweek remains frozen at 40 hours despite immense improvements in productivity and profound demographic shifts in labor-force participation.
(From the TBYT November newsletter)

The vision was that this would be the beginning of a gradual reduction in hours so that citizen have the time educate themselves. What happened? Two names: Taft Hartley. The Act named after the two Republican Congressmen rolled back short work hours and higher wages. It was the beginning of the undermining of the strengths of the union movement. We all pay with long hours for that…

And another interesting quote (hat tip):

Americans put in more hours at work than any other nation, surpassing even the workaholic Japanese.

Check out Taking Back Your Time for more info.