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5.1 Sectoral and occupational scope 
The trajectory of ILO regulation has, in part, been one of expansion of the sectors and 
occupations
 
captured within this regulatory sphere. Such an expansive approach was not 
evident in the early treatment of working time. The first working time instrument, the 
Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1), was confined to industrial labour. 
This sectoral restriction was overcome in the Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) 
Convention, 1930 (No. 30), which applies to commercial and trading establishments and to 
office work.
6
This extension of the international working time norms, however, stopped 
abruptly at certain service sector employers. Convention No. 30 explicitly excludes a 
number of establishments, including ―establishments for the treatment or care of the sick, 
infirm, destitute, or mentally unfit‖,
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hotels and restaurants,
8
and theatres.
9
A set of non-
binding Recommendations was adopted in the same year to cover these excluded fields,
10
in which these instruments did not contain specific standards but instead called for ―special 
investigation‖ of the legal treatment of the excluded establishments
 
in light of the 
standards contained in Convention No. 30.
11
They therefore illustrate the prevailing 
perception at the time that regulation is needed for occupations that do not readily fit 
within the factory model, yet
 
also highlight the lack of consensus on the appropriate forms 
of such regulation. 
Gradually, however, the ILO extended the scope of its binding working time norms.
 
In part, this expansion was achieved through the enactment of working time instruments of 
universal – rather than sectorally specific – scope, as part of the broader trend towards the 
expanded personal scope of ILO standards. Thus the Holidays with Pay Convention 
(Revised), 1970 (No. 132), and Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171), apply to ―all 
6
Prior to Convention No. 30, the ILO had already enriched the coverage of working time standards 
by adopting the Night Work (Bakeries) Convention, 1925 (No. 20). 
7
Convention No. 30, Article 2(a). 
8
ibid., Article 2(b). 
9
ibid., Article 2(c). 
10
Hours of Work (Hotels, etc.) Recommendation, 1930 (No. 37); Hours of Work (Theatres, etc.) 
Recommendation, 1930 (No. 38); Hours of Work (Hospitals, etc.) Recommendation, 1930 (No. 39). 
11
Recommendation No. 37, Paragraph 1; Recommendation No. 38, Paragraph 1; Recommendation 
No. 39, Paragraph 1. 

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Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 27 
employed persons‖.
12
The rules on daily and weekly hours limits were also eventually 
extended to cover the fields explicitly excluded by Conventions Nos. 1 and 30 and other 
occupations that were not captured by these standards. Specific Conventions were adopted, 
for example, on working time in road transport,
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nursing,
14
and hotels and restaurants.
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The historical expansion of the ILO standards on working time to sectors and 
occupations beyond the industrial sphere represents a trajectory of gradual expansion and 
refining of these standards to protect a broader range of workers and to meet the divergent 
needs of employers. This trajectory, moreover, suggests that specific working time 
standards on domestic work at the international level are a convincing next step, in that 
they would extend to one of the few occupations that remain beyond the reach of 
international working time law.