This puzzles me, because there is about the same amount of daylight before noon as after (by definition of noon), so this means there is more daylight before the 9-5 workday than after, but I think most people could use more personal time with daylight after they finish work, than before.
I've searched repeatedly for information on this, but I only find information on the 40 hour work week, and why the workday duration is 8 hours, but not why the start time is 9am.
I have a personal theory that the start time was that of office, or even aristocratic, workers, because its very late, long after many labourers would already have started their work day.
Does anyone know what the history behind the 9am start is, and how it became so widespread?
Thank you.
There's some of what you're asking in the answers from myself and /u/jbdyer to an older question: Dolly Parton had a famous song "9 to 5", yet every full-time job I have had is 8 to 5. Did people work one hour less in the 80s? How did we lose that hour?
The first thing to note from the answers is that both 9 AM and 8 AM starts were fairly common but also, the phrase "9 to 5" is more of a way to describe a particular kind of job than a specific start time. Even so-called "bankers hours" were typically 10 AM to 3 PM so it's difficult to draw conclusions about 9 AM and social class. That said, as I shared in an answer to a follow-up question on that thread, "Why 9 AM? Because that's when those men wanted to start work. Why 5 PM? Because that's when those men wanted to end their work day." In other words, some people (mostly men, mostly white) have traditionally started work at 9 AM because that's when they wanted to start work.