Who works hardest? Answer may surprise you

[seabeyond]

We talk a lot about being workaholics here in the United States, but it turns out we've got plenty of competition when it comes to keeping busy.

A study of 34 countries has found that Mexican, Japanese and Portuguese nationals spend the most time each day on work, studying and household chores.

Belgians, Danes and Germans spend the least amount of time on both paid and unpaid work, according to the study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

And as for us Americans? Despite our reputation for being all work and no play, we ranked ninth, after countries including Austria and Canada.

http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2011/04/13/6465911-who-works-hardest-answer-may-surprise-you?gt1=43001

[kristopher]

1. I was going to vote for women.

a friend that's logged of lot of time doing archaeological digs will not hire men unless he absolutely has to. He claims he can give instruction and leave women alone with no supervision having confidence the job will be done in a timely and correct manner but with men constant supervision is required. He consequently makes a habit of paying women more than men. Lucky for him, I suppose, that his digs are never in the US.

[Syrinx]

2. what is your point?

We should make our country more like Mexico? Or that we should get our advice, as a country, from "today.com," which is a company run by Microsoft?

And spend more of the times of our lives trying to earn enough food to continue living?

What is so great about "working the hardest?"

I'd like a higher standard of living. That's not necessarily the same as "working the hardest."

Why must our goals be so low? Why should we want America to be just like Mexico?

We should hope to go down in those ratings, not up.

[lunatica]

3. Maybe this isn't a competition?

Does it piss you off that we're not number one in something?

[Syrinx]

5. I don't want to be number one in the difficulty of having a decent life

[Scuba]

7. Bingo.

[seabeyond]

8. my point? we are in middle or not top by far. thought interesting. sittin

about in average.

what point is there to make. it is an article. nothing more or less

[AlabamaLibrul]

11. 9th of 34 is hardly the middle. Also, the US is above the OECD average as shown in the graph n/t

[seabeyond]

12. meh.... nt

[Syrinx]

14. lol

[AlabamaLibrul]

15. not intended to be a factual statement ??? n/t

[Syrinx]

16. lol squared

[seabeyond]

22. shruggin... not top by far, that is fine. the numbers we have are so close to so many others

all not that significant

i dont get the outrage over this.

[Scuba]

4. There ya go with that nationalism again. You need to look at it from...

...the global corportacrocy perspective.


The wealthiest among us do NO WORK whatsoever, not for a paycheck or even to prepare their own food. Almost all of them inherited their wealth. Ahhhh, to own for a living.

People who aren't among the wealthiest work harder and harder as you move down the income scale. The poor often have three jobs.

Continuing down the income scale you eventually find a small group who do "negative" work, because they require care.


In the global corportacrocy, this last group is considered "waste" and should be eliminated.



Which is kinda the opposite of how I feel.

[Syrinx]

6. this puzzles me

This seems to be a post in favor of longer hours for less pay, on a site called the DEMOCRATIC Underground.

Maybe I'm confused. I often am.

But I'll admit it, I'm baffled.

[seabeyond]

9. interesting interpretation as i see it as we arent up there at the top so thinking we do better

than some countries.

but whatever

[Syrinx]

13. Mexico is a major world power now?

I did not know that.

[a la izquierda]

17. It has the 11th or 13th largest economy...

in the world, depending on where you look and from what year.
Do you have some kind of problem with Mexico, or Mexicans? You surely didn't target the Japanese in the article.

[AlabamaLibrul]

18. I, for one, have a problem with Mexico

the income disparity is shocking, as in most of Latin America, and most areas are in "third world" conditions. That should be unheard of, entirely unacceptable in the 11th or 13th largest economy in the world.

Need I remind you they come here in droves for the opportunity of an undocumented job at a fraction of our minimum wage?

So yes, I have a problem with Mexico, and I don't want America to be the world's largest Mexico in terms of labor and living conditions.

[a la izquierda]

38. Well, they have the US of A to thank for that...

and some countries are trying to fix that.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[seabeyond]

24. i am not getting why people are flippin over this article really. was surprised we werent higher.

was kinda thinkin, yea, we are healthier than what i thought. i missed something here.

[seabeyond]

23. and i said it was.... where? wtf, is everyones problem. jeezus. the outrage. nt

[JuniperLea]

39. The Outrage (TM)

It's all about The Outrage (TM). I think some people would be outraged by the three egg white omelet I had for breakfast.

[seabeyond]

42. lol lol

after today, after this thread, lol lol

this has a different signifance. so funny

[chrisa]

47. The OP insinuated that?

Two posts, each attacking the OP for things that were never in the OP.

[reformist2]

10. I thought the people who made the most money worked the hardest. LOL

[90-percent]

20. What is America still good at?

Space Travel

Commercial Aviation

Entertainment

Blowing stuff up real good

-jim

What the hell is so desirable about working your entire conscious existence?
Seems more like enslavement than enterprise to me!

[seabeyond]

25. i wasnt looking at this as being number one or anything else. nt

[WatsonT]

30. Not space travel for much longer

we've given that up.

We are good at arms and heavy manufacturing. And medical research. Also bio-tech.

[FLPanhandle]

21. I've worked in Mexico, Japan, & Germany

I can agree with the study numbers, BUT hours at work don't really equal productive hours.

In Japan, they worked a lot of hours but I noticed over time that we didn't get any more done than in the US at the end of the day. That surprised me as I believed the stereotype that the Japanese were all busy worker bees. Turned out there was a good bit of mental rest going on during the work day and hanging out just waiting for the boss to leave. They may spend more hours at work than us in the survey, but I wouldn't say all those hours were productive.

In Mexico, I was again slightly surprised at they were as productive as the US office hour per hour. However, they worked in the office until almost 8pm as we didn't get a quorum of folks there until almost 10am and lunch could be a two hour affair. I used to almost beg them "Guys, if we start on time and take a short lunch, then we could get out of here at 6pm", that never happened. So, Mexico may rank above us in hours worked but again, I wouldn't say they are any more productive after a day's work.

The German office was living up to the stereotype about efficiency. Start on time, designated lunch window, little goofing off time.

Overall, each of the locations did about the same amount of true "work" during a day, it's just the days were spent differently.

[seabeyond]

26. interesting.

i think.

but a discussion like this seems to be saying something one way or another and offensive to some.

but your theory or perception works for me.

[FLPanhandle]

27. I read the entire thread and don't understand why people are taking offensive

Or reading ulterior motives into a survey of working hours.

It's just data.

Anyway, thanks for posting it.

[90-percent]

28. FLP

FLP - that is a robust work experience you have there. Very worldly, literally.

I've worked for a Japanese Company and a German Company. I never went to Japan but went to Germany five times, but only on week long junkets. The Japanese Company would cycle many of their Japanese people through America for a few years. All of them would automatically stay in the office every day until around 7:00. Many with feet on the desk reading a trade magazine. To be fair, there were also some that worked hard their entire ten hours.

The Germans, in contrast, tend to work hard and productively for every minute of their seven hour days. I think they really practiced giving a good day's work for a good days pay.

I agree with FLP in that the amount of time you spend at work is not the measure, it's the productivity that's the measure.

I personally like the eight hour work day and leading a balanced life with more going on that just your occupation. I had spent 30 years in white collar roles and I recently worked on the factory floor running machines. The sense of pride and accomplishment I got running production was a lot more fulfilling than my vague nebulous white collar role. I find the white collar side to be crawling with empty suit genuflecting genius middle managers that just gum up everything. Your performance in white collar is very hard to measure and self preservation means you can't be excellent or incompetent. Mediocre works best, unless you are blessed with a middle manager that is a real leader. I get real energized reporting to someone I respect. I get demoralized reporting to empty suit self serving managers, which is the state of most of working life in America these days, with some exceptions.

I'm pretty much a full blown iconoclast, (my definition: one who questions accepted norms) and boy does that personality type know how to rock the boat! Mediocre Managers sure as hell don't like getting their boats rocked by their underlings! (And I have the pink slips to prove it!)

-jim

[Southerner]

29. The data counts who works the LONGEST.

Yet the title says who works the hardest. Two totally different things.

What really matters is productivity - GDP produced per hour worked:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_hour_worked

We're fourth overall but first place amongst large, industrialized countries. (Norway is a small country with very rich oil reserves that generate a lot of their GDP).

[seabeyond]

33. "who works the hardest. Two totally different things."

point.

another poster pointed out the different work styles he has encountered which would jive with what you are saying.

i can go with that. i didn't chose the title, there is capitalizations, lol. i just copied and pasted.

but you are right on that. maybe that is why people were bothered with this op

[snooper2]

31. I blame it on all the hoarders, they are skewing the numbers

[Taverner]

32. I knew there was something great about Belgium other than the beers

I'm ready to spend the rest of my life quietly contemplating life over Westerverleten 12!!!

[seabeyond]

34. lol

with glimpses of your other posts, seems you are getting comfortable with the idea.

[Taverner]

35. What - because of the beer?

Yes, I do love good beer :)

[xchrom]

36. goes to the notion of our 'exceptionalism'.

we're not even #1 in who works longer, harder, etc -- all the kinds of things we like to break our arm patting ourselves on the back over.

[seabeyond]

37. i really didnt get that from this article. i didnt know we were suppose to feel that.

i thought it interesting we were so far down, and more moderate, along with others.

i left that american pride thing so long ago, just isnt in my thoughts. but i think it is a good thing not be the longest hour worker (opposed to hardest, as another couple posters pointed out)and having time to play.

[xchrom]

40. Really? All that business in our national myth - pioneers making a

Civilization by the sweat of their brow, coming here with nothing and 'working' their way to the American dream, wwI, wwII those courageous & hard working soldiers...

And you don't get that we would see our selves as #1?

[seabeyond]

41. really. i assumed that ship sailed in the decade of japan.....

and again, hard work does not equate to hours spent.

and

the most important

i would hope after all this time we have learned a bet of balance and time at work is not all life is about. maybe that is why i did not even consider it is because i think it is a good thing not being number one.

[xchrom]

43. I think you have 'self interpereted' for your own

Purposes against a national self definition.

I don't know why you would do that - the meaning isn't hidden --
But I have my own ideas.

[seabeyond]

46. whatever. just dont give a shit. i clearly, consistently stated what i think about the rankings

make up your own story .....

this is just gotten to the point of stupid...

[Nikia]

44. Does the unemployment/underemployment rate affect this?

You do have a significant number of Americans working less hours than they would prefer. I'm not sure how this compares to other countries.

[Kip Humphrey]

45. Only 9th? May be because 22% of us are unemployed.