Americans are working longer hours amid the coronavirus pandemic, clocking as many as three extra hours per day.

In addition to serving as a good reminder to take a break from work, Labor Day is an important day to recognize the work of unions to get the five-day, 40-hour workweek.

Here's a timeline of how the US adopted what's become the average workweek.

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The coronavirus pandemic has blurred the lines between work and personal lives. Many report working longer hours, taking fewer breaks, and signing on at all hours of the day and night. In fact, since the start of the pandemic in the US, many Americans report working as much as three additional hours each day, Bloomberg reports.

Americans are overworked and there's been some debate over whether the 40-hour workweek still makes sense for employees. Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, for example, says it's time for the US to implement a four-day workweek instead of the traditional five day, 40 hour week.

But the fact that we're able to debate the workweek at all is a true testament to how far workers rights have come since the 1800s. For Labor Day, we're taking a look back through the history of the 40-hour workweek and how we got to where we are today.

The history of the 40-hour workweek

August 20, 1866: A newly formed organization named the National Labor Union asked Congress to pass a law mandating the eight-hour workday. Though their efforts failed, they inspired Americans across the country to support labor reform over the next few decades.

May 1, 1867: The Illinois legislature passed a law mandating an eight-hour workday. Many employers refused to cooperate, and a massive strike erupted in Chicago. That day became known as "May Day."

May 19, 1869: President Ulysses S. Grant issued a proclamation that guaranteed a stable wage and an eight-hour workday — but only for government workers. Grant's decision encouraged private-sector workers to push for the same rights.

1870s and 1880s: While the National Labor Union had dissolved, other organizations including the Knights of Labor and the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions continued to demand an eight-hour workday. Every year on May Day, strikes and demonstrations were organized to bring awareness to the issue.

May 1, 1886: Labor organizations called for a national strike in support of a shorter workday. More than 300,000 workers turned out across the country. In Chicago, demonstrators fought with police over the next few days. Many on both sides were wounded or killed in an event that's now known as the "Haymarket Affair."

1890: The US government began tracking workers' hours. The average workweek for full-time manufacturing employees was a whopping 100 hours.

1906: The eight-hour workday was instituted at two major firms in the printing industry.

September 3, 1916: Congress passed the Adamson Act, a federal law that established an eight-hour workday for interstate railroad workers. The Supreme Court constitutionalized the act in 1917.

September 25, 1926: Ford Motor Companies adopted a five-day, 40-hour workweek.

June 25, 1938: Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which limited the workweek to 44 hours.

June 26, 1940: Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act, limiting the workweek to 40 hours.

October 24, 1940: The Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect.

How the 40-hour workweek has evolved

Despite the long work it took to make the 40-hour workweek a reality, research shows people do continue to log longer work hours.

In a survey by tax and professional services firm EY, half of managers around the world reported logging more than 40 hours a week. In the US, a whopping 58% of managers said they worked over 40 hours a week. Presumably, some of that time is spent at home answering emails, instead of at the office.

Meanwhile, there's evidence that some Americans see working around the clock as a kind of status symbol. While many people claim to be working 60- or 80-hour workweeks, much of that time isn't very productive. In fields like finance and consulting, some workers may only be pretending to work 80-hour weeks, a recent study suggests.

In general, research suggests that we can handle working 60-hour weeks for three weeks — after that, we become less productive.