Art, I may be off base here, but I think a lot of it has to do with foreign businesses coming in. I know in my industry (securities) many of the companies are foreign owned and they demand longer hours. When I went to work for First Boston, they told me I would be expected to put in a minimum of 10 hours a day and at least one weekend day. Being a consultant, it wasn't to bad, but I worked next to employees who were required to put in the same time. This is due to competition from foreign companies here in NY. The salaries are fantastic, but it's understood that this salary includes overtime. Plus we have a lot of foreigners that come and are willing to work long hours for less pay.

I think this might have something to do with the longer hours problem.

Now, on the other hand, many companies, like where I work now, have a 35 hour work week. That's only 7 hrs. per day of salaried people. I'm still a consultant, but older now with a better hourly rate and I put in only 7, 7.5 hours a day. I'm one of the lucky ones.

Hope that helps some.

Love, annamill (I still want to write annap)