<P> In 1908 , the first five - day workweek in the United States was instituted by a New England cotton mill so that Jewish workers would not have to work on the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday . In 1926 , Henry Ford began shutting down his automotive factories for all of Saturday and Sunday . In 1929 , the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Union was the first union to demand a five - day workweek and receive it . After that , the rest of the United States slowly followed , but it was not until 1940 , when a provision of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act mandating a maximum 40 - hour workweek went into effect , that the two - day weekend was adopted nationwide . </P>
when did the 5 day work week begin
In 1908