Ah, the labor union myth. What's missing from that story is that working hours had been steadily declining for decades, prior to the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Since the passage of that act, total working hours (outside the home) have actually increased.
As so often happens, the market was fixing the problem, before the government swooped in and prevented any further progress, while also claiming credit for fixing the problem.
Since the passage of that act, total working hours (outside the home) have actually increased.
Is it due to the inability of an average American to meet both ends adequately by doing 1 job?
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In some ways, labor laws entrench a 40 hour work week and make it harder to work either more or less than 40 hours.
Total labor hours increasing has more to do with raising income taxes. That reduced family budgets and made it so moms had to find employment outside the home. If not for some of these labor laws, those extra needed hours would likely have been worked by men increasing their hours.
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Surely, from the times immemorial men have been working and women have been taking care of households. But who cares this doctrine now? Either they willfully work or they are made to work for raising extra capital for their family.
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