Y’all have heard it before- “Back in my day…” Everything was more difficult in previous days.
Well, according to multiple anthropologists, scientists, and archaeologists research shows the following :
- The Hunters and Gatherers of the Stone Age worked 3-5 hours per day 365 days per year.
- Laborers in Ancient Egypt would work for about 18 out of every 50 Days. Time off for religious festivals and doing housework, and making clothes, etc.
- Meanwhile,in Israel a typical farm worker around 100 BC would work 8 hours a day, 296 days a year.
- Now let’s say you were a freelance pottery maker in Ancient Rome. Life was pretty easy. 6 hours a day for around 185 days per year. Not bad work if you could find it.
- English peasants in Medieval England worked around 150 days at 8 hours a day.
- Laborer in 17th Century France worked around 10 hours a day 185 days a year.
- Then it got worse in 18th century England where unskilled workers put in 11 hour days, 208 days per year.
- But you think it was bad being in 18th century England? Try being a factory worker in the 19th Century England- 16 hour days , 311 days a year.
- Meanwhile over in America in the 20th century, 8 hour days were common for the factory worker 243 days a year.
- And while there is a 44 hour work week limitation in China, apparently this doesn’t apply to the tech sector. where 10 hour days 6 days a week are the norm.
- By comparison, an office worker in the Netherlands has it easy. 5.8 hours a day, 234 days a year.
- According to U.S. Bureau of Labor, American office workers as a whole work 6.9 hours a day, 239 days a year.
