Productivity in Manufacturing and the Length of the Working Day :

The nineteenth century witnessed far-reaching changes in the nature and organization of industrial production. Traditional non-mechanized establishments artisan shops were displaced by mechanized water or steam-driven plants and extensive division of labor increased the average size of firms (Chandler 1977; Sokoloff 1984). In these new mills and "factories", the centralized nature of motive power generation and the growing interdependence of tasks led to the imposition of a new discipline on labor, a faster and more intense pace of work, and a reduction in seasonal "downtime". In earlier times, daily work hours "from sun to sun" had been tolerable when employers worked alongside their employees setting the pace, especially when tasks were regularly interrupted by inclement weather and other factors beyond anyone's control. But as mechanization spread and work effort intensified, calls by workers for "shorter hours" became more common.