过劳死(英文资料)

A Brief History of Long Work Time and

the Contemporary Sources of Overwork Lonnie Golden

ABSTRACT.What are some of the key historical trends in hours of work per worker in US?What economic, social-psychological,organizational and institutional for-ces determine the length of individuals’working hours? How much of the trend toward longer working hours among so many workers may be attributable to workers’preferences,workplace incentives or employers’con-straints?When can work become overwork or worka-holism–an unforced addiction to incessant work activity which risk harm to workers,families or even economies? The first part of this article traces the history of the length of working hours and its recent polarization.The second part develops a multi-disciplinary model to identify motivations behind working longer hours.Individuals’desired work hours will stem from the weighted contri-bution of five sources:(1)current real wage rates;(2) forward-looking,wage trajectories;(3)relative status associated with hours of labor;(4)intrinsic rewards, process benefits or amenities acquired through work;(5) hours demanded by the employer and other structural constraints,to which workers may adapt.Employers and their established conditions of work have influenced the course of long run trends labor supply and in work time structures.The final section suggests policies that might address the persistence of long hours.

KEY WORDS:working hours,working time,overwork, labor supply,hours constraints,labor history,workaholism JEL CLASSIFICATIONS:B25,J22,J28

Overview

What are some of the key historical trends and patterns in hours of work per worker in US?What forces and counterforces determine the length of individuals’work hours-economic,social–psychological–cultural, organizational,and institutional?How much of the trend in work hours may be attributable to workers’preferences,external incentives,and employers’constraints?What motivates employees to desire to work longer work hours?Can work become over-work–risking harm to workers,families,or econo-mies–or workaholism,an unforced addiction to incessant work activity?Thefirst part of this article traces the history of the length of working hours and its recent polarization.The second develops a multi-disciplinary model to identify the motivations behind more workers desiring or getting longer hours.The final section briefly suggests policies that might curb the persistence of long hours by addressing its underlying economic and social sources.

The long-run historical trend of hours

of work

Most scholars begin the quest for identifying the secular trends in work hours with the onset of the industrial revolution(Alvarez-Cuadrado,2007; Bienefeld,1972;Costa,1998;Cross,1988;Hopkins, 1982;Thompson,1967).There are essentially three identifiable stages of development in the duration of weekly or annual hours worked since the1800s: gradual reduction,stabilization,and then more re-cently,polarization.In thefirst wave,during the initial transformation from agricultural to industrial type jobs and workplaces,many workers in the US were working as long as70h per week or more (Whaples,2001).Most of the increase in hours occurred on an annual basis,with a rise in the length of the workyear and disappearance of seasonal down time.Daily hours appear to have peaked by1830in the US and declined somewhat during the rest of the century as employers accommodated workers calls for a shorter workday.It was facilitated by tech-nology and mechanization that made it possible for

Journal of Business Ethics(2009)84:217–227ÓSpringer2008 DOI10.1007/s10551-008-9698-z