Which ILO convention adopted in 1935 promotes a 40-hour working week?

The ILO’s Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935, promotes the progressive reduction of working time toward a 40-hour week.

The International Labour Organization adopted Convention No. 47 in 1935, during a period when shorter hours were viewed as a way to share available work and improve workers’ living conditions. Its goal was not simply to mandate one identical schedule worldwide, but to encourage governments to adopt or support the 40-hour principle.

The convention is connected to the broader history of working-time regulation, including the eight-hour-day movement and international labor standards developed after the First World War. It concerns hours of work, not minimum pay, annual leave, or collective bargaining.

A common mix-up is confusing Convention No. 47 with the ILO’s 1919 Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, which established an eight-hour day and 48-hour week standard for certain industrial employment.