Factory Investigation Leads to a Limited Worker-Protection Law

Industrial growth recruited large numbers of rural women into textile factories, where long hours, low pay and poor living and sanitary conditions became subjects of investigation. The Agriculture and Commerce Ministry’s 1903 Shokkō Jijō reports documented factory labor alongside accounts by social investigators. Those inquiries made working arrangements a subject of proposed regulation.

The Factory Act was promulgated on March 29, 1911, after prolonged debate and industrial opposition. It covered factories normally employing at least fifteen workers, as well as dangerous or unhealthy operations, with further exclusions allowed by ordinance. Employment below twelve was generally prohibited, but existing workers aged ten or older and authorized light work could qualify for exceptions.

For women and workers under fifteen, the law set a twelve-hour daily limit, permitted extensions and prescribed rest and holidays. It also prohibited work between ten at night and four in the morning, but exempted shift arrangements from that provision for fifteen years. The law consequently did not immediately stop night work across the textile industry. Adult men did not receive a general hours limit.

Implementation began in September 1916, five years after promulgation. Officials received inspection powers and authority to require correction of dangerous conditions; employers had obligations to assist workers injured at work and bereaved families, subject to the statutory rules. The Act supplied enforceable duties beyond an employer’s voluntary promises, while its age exceptions, limited coverage and long transition periods left many labor conditions outside immediate protection.