Hours of Work in Wartime

Archive Report

Growing Shortage of Industrial Manpower

Call for Fuller Utilization Labor Force

Shortages of manpower, resulting from heavy draft calls at a time when the demand for war goods is rising by leaps and bounds, have brought an insistent demand for full utilization of the available labor force. A principal measure recommended to this end is an increase in the workweek throughout American industry.

Demands for repeal or modification of statutes which prescribe a basic eight hour day or 40 hour week have come from many quarters since the opening of the American offensive in North Africa. Earlier in the year, the administration at Washington successfully resisted various moves in Congress—by members who previously had sponsored restrictive labor legislation—to obtain a revision of the wage-hour standards set up ...

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