The national and international economic circumstances in which working time is fixed have evolved considerably over the years. From the point of view of employers and their organizations, it has become all the more essential in a period of recession to maintain and increase competitiveness and productivity: to do this they consider that a high degree of flexibility is required as regards working time so that the undertaking can make the most effective use of plant and machinery, and adapt quickly to market fluctuations. From the point of view of workers and their organizations, there is an overwhelming requirement of higher levels of employment in the very many countries where unemployment has risen to high levels, coupled with claims for greater flexibility in working hours, so that individual aspirations can be better accommodated in the distribution and reduction of weekly and annual working time. As regards the need for flexibility, the approach, particularly in the more recent international instruments, has been one of allowing a great deal of room for national conditions and practice and the circumstances governing different activities, while at the same time laying down minimum standards or longer-term goals that are considered appropriate, for the mass of the working population. In this context, the instrument of a general scope which the Governing Body of the ILO has placed among those to be promoted on a priority basis is the Reduction of Hours of Work Recommendation, 1962 (No. 116). The principle of the progressive reduction of hours of work is set out in this Recommendation as follows: normal hours of work shall be progressively reduced when appropriate with a view to attaining the social standard of the 40-hour week without any reduction in the wages of the workers as at the time hours of work are reduced. In the achievement of the aim of the 40-hour week, the Recommendation sets a first immediate objective: where the duration of the normal working week exceeds 48m hours, immediate steps should be taken to bring it down to this level without any reduction in the wages of the workers as at the time hours of work are reduced. Recommendation No. 116 complements existing international instruments on hours of work and indicates measures to facilitate their application, taking account of the variety of economic and social conditions and national practices. It also points out the principle set out in the Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935(No. 47), as a social standard to be reached by stages if necessary and defines themaximum limit to normal hours of work pursuant to the Hours of Work(Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1). Each ILO Member State should promotethe adoption of the principle of the progressive reduction of normal hours of work. Furthermore, each State should, in so far as is consistent with national conditions and practice, ensure the application of this principle. Appropriate measures of supervision, including inspection, are recommended. The national policy envisaged by Recommendation No. 116 may take many forms, since it is designed to promote the principle of the progressive reduction of normal hours of work by methods appropriate to national conditions and practice and to conditions in each industry. While there may be no formal declaration, a national policy on the reduction of hours of work can be deduced from all measures taken in this field through legislation or collective agreements or other measures, or even from a deliberate non-intervention by the government in the process of fixing hours of work. While such a policy may seem more directly relevant to those countries where the maximum limits set to normal hours of work are relatively high, either in general or in certain activities, a significant number of indications show none the less that the reduction of hours of work continues to be a major social objective. There are even several cases of countries in which national policy has continued to promote further improvements in terms of a general continuing reduction below 40 hours (for instance through collective bargaining), e.g. by means of flexible hours. Whatever the position, in many countries hours of work, and working time in general, are the subject of active debate on the question of what national policy should be. See: Working time (ILO); Working time (organization of)