The 40-Hour Workweek Is a 100-Year-Old Mistake

3 Jul 2025 · 1 min

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Dharmesh Shah traces the 40-hour workweek back to a 1926 court ruling after New York fur workers fought the police for shorter days. Today we're five times more productive than 1920 workers, yet we keep the same 9-to-5 schedule. He asks whether a century-old standard still makes sense.

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The New York Police Department drove their cars into these protesters because they wanted to be the first Americans to work 40 hours per week? Like, in 1926, you'd be a 12-year-old carrying around raw pelts as a fur garment worker. You're working 80 hours per week. That's like you doing your full-time job, then doing DoorDash until 2 AM. You'd be fed up too. So these guys take to the streets and clash with police So violently they shut down whole blocks of Manhattan until a state judge says enough and gives the protesters what they want: the first official 40-hour workweek in the USA. But hang on, this was 100 years ago. The 9-to-5 schedule still rules your life, even though we have the internet and AI changing everything. Just look, today we get 5 times more done as someone working in 1920, but somehow we still work the same schedule. So is it time for a new way of working?