18

THE FIVE-DAY WEEK

this decade is in marked contrast to the total of 251 in the
following decade, as is shown by Table 3. A more definite
trend toward the adoption of the five-day week appears to
date from 1918. Apparently, the movement has gradually
been gaining momentum, although this momentum is of relative
 rather than absolute importance, since the number
operating on the five-day schedule is still insignificant in
comparison with the total number of manufacturing establishments
 in the United States.

TABLE 3: YEAR oF AporrioN of Five-Day Week in 262
AMERICAN MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS
(Source: National Industrial Conference Board)

Number of
Establishments

yp

Number of
Establishments

INQ

)
210
N11
312
M2
114

F
Y

a

i

]

There seems to be little connection between general business
 conditions in a given year and the spread of five-day
week operation during that period. On the one hand, in
1921, which was in the manufacturing industries probably
the most unsatisfactory year in more than a decade, the
number of plants adopting the five-day week was double
that in any preceding year. This would suggest that during
a period of production curtailment the shorter work week
was adopted either from economic necessity or as an experiment,
 and that satisfactory experience with it, or inertia, or
difficulty in changing back to a longer work schedule had led
to its continuance as a permanent policy. On the other hand,
the year in which the largest number of plants introduced the
five-day schedule was 1925, which with 1926 was a highly
satisfactory period of industrial operation. Thus, business
conditions appear to have little direct effect upon the spread
of the five-day week. A more reasonable explanation of the