The OSHA telecommuting controversy was only the most publicized recent instance of the growing conflict between the possibilities of the information-age economy and the rust-caked body of labor laws and — equally important — mental attitudes built over the past century. In 1991, 15 percent of all full-time workers had flexible schedules; by 1997 (the most recent data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics), 28 percent did. Thus, if hourly workers are allowed to work 10 hours a day for four days instead of eight hours for five days, then employers will impose this schedule on some unwilling workers. The idea that labor markets might work like other markets, that workers might sort themselves out according to their own preferences among packages offered by different employers, is antithetical to the still-prevailing New Deal belief system. read more