EASTHAM, Mass — Americans are a bunch of lazy layabouts who don't want to work and would rather live off the taxes generated by the toil of their countrymen. I hear some version of this rant repeatedly from people who believe that the American work ethic disappeared at some point in the past generation.
Here on gorgeous Cape Cod, where I vacation, I've been thinking about the state of American work and workers. So let's clear up a few matters.
First, American worker productivity is high and continues to rise.
In fact, according to a cross-national study released earlier this year by the International Labor Organization, American workers are the most productive in the world. Based on the most recent data available for each country, workers in the United States on average produce $63,885 of wealth annually; compared to other industrialized countries of Europe, only Norway's workers produce more wealth per hour ($37.99 in U.S. dollars) than do American workers ($35.63.)
Second, Americans work a lot.
Although workers in third-world countries put in roughly 2,200 hours per year, compared with other industrialized nations U.S. workers rank first, averaging about 1,800 hours annually. That's 400 more hours than the Norwegians and 330 more hours than the French.
So we work plenty and produce a lot. How else could a nation with only 4.5 percent of the world's population produce more than a fifth of the world's wealth?
Obviously, technology has boosted productivity. But technological advances also make work more pervasive and inescapable: Saleswomen today can call clients from the car or email them while in midair; middle managers can do paperwork on their laptops at night and on weekends. All of which means Americans today often work in places and at times that their parents and grandparents simply could not.
Although earlier generations of American workers surely would have done the same had cellphones and the Internet existed then, it doesn't change the fact that today's workers can work longer hours and perhaps never fully "leave" the office. (One benefit of technology is that it permits telecommuting and greater job flexibility, which is invaluable to working parents and many adults with physical limitations.)
So if Americans are working hard, they must be playing hard, too, right?
Sorry, it's just the opposite: The same country that ranks first among industrialized nations in total wealth productivity per year and second in wealth productivity per hour ranks dead last in terms of vacation time taken, especially paid vacation.
American leisure? Don’t let the averages fool you, he could say. While it looks like leisure time has gone up, time diaries show that leisure and sleep time have gone up steeply since 1985 for those with less than a high school degree. Why? They’re becoming unemployed or underemployed. And leisure and sleep time for the college educated, the ones working those crazy extreme hours, has fallen steeply.
Americans don’t have two “nurture days” per child until age 8, as Denmark does. No year-long paid parental leaves for mothers and fathers, as in Iceland. Nor a national three-month sabbatical policy, which Belgium has.
Instead of taking the entire month of August off, the most employers voluntarily grant us American workers tends to be two weeks. One in four workers gets no paid vacation or holidays at all, one study found. And, in a telling annual report called the “Vacation Deprivation” study, travel company Expedia figures that Americans didn’t even USE 577 million of those measly vacation days at all last year.
Women are the primary breadwinners in 40 percent of U.S. households today. But in most of those families, women are the primary earner because they are the only earner. One if four houses are now led by a single mom, who earn an average income of just $23,000.
Balancing work and leisure without a partner isn't easy no matter where you live, but single working mothers feel a particular pinch in the U.S., for two reasons. First, the U.S. has the fourth-highest share of single mothers in the OED. Second, they work the longest hours and have more children than most rich countries, according to a study of family time. "Lone mothers in the US have less available time than lone mothers in any of the other countries" the researchers studied.
Single mothers are more likely to work than the average adult -- after all, the vast majority of them simply must -- but they're also more likely to work less. In the U.S., where single mothers work the most, only 4 percent punch in more than 50 hours a week.
So when you hear that American work-life balance ranks poorly, remember that there really isn't any such thing as "American work-life balance." Instead there are intersecting trends -- only a handful of which I've touched on here -- showing that, although the workweek has fallen, the changing composition of families has put tremendous time-stresses on more mothers. Overall, research shows that lower-income men have never had more downtime, while working single mothers have never been more common. The first part is a problem. The second is a crisis.
I wish I could work as hard, and for as many days a year, as John Boehner and his congressional buddies. 100-some actual work days out of a 365 day year? Making well over double my current salary? I'd take that.
Quoting Robert F Kennedy, Obama said Holder had “borne the burden” of “proving to the world that we really mean it when we say all men are created free and equal before the law.”
That sucks dude, not going to pile on the healthcare in the us, but that whole system needs to be blown up and rebuilt.
Yep, ironically if he actually lived in Germany he'd have free healthcare, better access to education and a far better economy to rely on. All in the country that invented socialism!
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The quotes from Boehner are true, they work very hard. But their existing work-life balance and mentality is also a MAJOR cause for so many of their social problems in their country, which continue to get worse and by extension might have worse effects on their economy and country. So life in the states is work work work and that's it? Yay, can I move there?
Where do the US rank in depression? Homelessness? etc.
Any society that has such a large division between the shrinking wealthy and the growing poor will eventually find itself in revolution. See France in the late 1700's.
Yep, ironically if he actually lived in Germany he'd have free healthcare, better access to education and a far better economy to rely on. All in the country that invented socialism!
ironically my mom has been discussing about going back to Germany for good. her "american dream is over" here she says.
I've been with my GF for nearly 10 years (feb) so we're going to go to the local courthouse and get married this month. it's going to be $150/mo for both of us on obamacare and a $400/year deductible.
I've said it over and over again, I may be conservative but healthcare is a right no matter your skin color, religion, or financial wealth.
The quotes from Boehner are true, they work very hard. But their existing work-life balance and mentality is also a MAJOR cause for so many of their social problems in their country, which continue to get worse and by extension might have worse effects on their economy and country. So life in the states is work work work and that's it? Yay, can I move there?
Where do the US rank in depression? Homelessness? etc.
Any society that has such a large division between the shrinking wealthy and the growing poor will eventually find itself in revolution. See France in the late 1700's.
What sucks in this country is that we're too busy giving money and weapons to those in the middle east who hate us and supply their military folks. Yet, we cant take care of our own.
I won't lie, I've been looking at Norway, Denmark and Germany the last 6 months. If I find the right job, I'm likely gone from Iceland while this country tries to recover.
The standard of living in those countries is so high, and I just feel like I'm treading water in Iceland.
forgive me for my ignorance, but is Iceland part of the EU? how hard would immigration to those countries be for you?
I gave up my German Citizenship 6 years ago. Being born there and having a German mom it wouldn't be hard for me to get it back if I really wanted to.
If the US cant learn to get along I may just go back to Bavaria.
Iceland is part of the EEA (European Economic Area), and because of this holding an Icelandic passport means I can work anywhere in EU, which is great.
Yeah if you were born there, you should be able to immigrate with zero problems. Maybe I'll see you there lol
Iceland is part of the EEA (European Economic Area), and because of this holding an Icelandic passport means I can work anywhere in EU, which is great.
Yeah if you were born there, you should be able to immigrate with zero problems. Maybe I'll see you there lol
my German will need to be cleaned up A LOT!
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Amazing that this trailer trash could have ended up President. The White House would have become a reality show
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An officer wrote that both Sarah and Todd Palin "appeared upset and and in a verbal argument with other individuals at the scene." There is no interview with the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee included in the report.
Klingenmeyer told police he was considering filing charges and was "angry that the Palins had showed up and were causing problems," according to the report. He told police he had asked Bristol to leave and she responded, "Who the f*** are you?" Klingemeyer told her he owned the home and Bristol said she didn't believe him and "she will kick his a**," the police report states.
Klingenmeyer said that's when Bristol first punched him and he then said he told her to hit "him again if it makes her feel better and she does," according to the document.
After five to six punches, Klingenmeyer "grabbed her fist as she punched again and he pushed back and she falls down. He says she gets up and tries to punch him again and he grabs her fist again and pushes her away and she falls down again," Klingenmeyer told police, who described him as "moderately intoxicated" in the report.
An officer described Bristol Palin in the report as "heavily intoxicated and upset" and told police that Klingenmeyer had "drug her across the lawn by her legs" calling her names. She also said both her sandals and sunglasses had been taken.
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Police wrote that when they approached the scene Track Palin was being pushed into a limousine, described in the report as a "long white limousine," where his mother was sitting. He got out of the limo to speak to police after his mother told him to. Police described Track Palin as being shirtless and having "blood around his mouth and on his hands and he appeared to have an injury under his left eye, on his upper cheek." The officer said that Track Palin was "angry and intoxicated and I had a hard time getting him to calm down."
Track told police his friend was punched and knocked to the ground and Todd Palin said two men were attacking his son as well. Todd Palin said once the friend, named Steven, was punched the situation "escalated and it was a situation they couldn't walk away from."
The Palin's 20-year old daughter Willow was also interviewed and told police Klingenmeyer had "assaulted" Bristol and she had been pushed by an "older lady" and others involved in the fight were "saying things like f*** the Palins." Police described Willow as "extremely agitated."
