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Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds

bloomberg.com

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Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds

#41

Post by chris_7 »

67726e wrote: post #34
vinay427 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About 90% of Americans overall have health insurance. Most full-time tech jobs in the US at the companies that would pay more than European salaries will include sufficient health insurance. I'm not sure who you're referring to dying in the streets because of a lack of medical treatment due to financial limitations.

Well, maybe not die in the streets, but in my state the best, most expensive health insurance I can purchase still doesn't kick in until I've dropped several thousand out of pocket. I get decent insurance through my job, but it's still fucking stupid how much I have to spend before it kicks in. Even then, there are all kinds of clauses and stipulations and loop holes. I guarantee if and when I really need my insuranc…

Even worse, when I go to the doctor, I have no idea what I'm going to pay. You can possible decode it, but good luck - and if he or she sends something to a lab, etc. one day a bill will just show up and you'll just have to pay it. The doctor doesn't say "we can do a lab test, it'll cost you $40" or anything. Imagine if your dry cleaner wouldn't tell you what the charge would be until your clothes had already been cleaned!

Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds

#42

Post by big_youth »

webaholic wrote: post #3

How happy are they working that extra 25%? They are richer, sure. But I don't think being rich is an indicator of your overall state. Looking at [1], you can see that people in european countries come out on top of the happiness index. One could argue that working less is actually better for productivity and overall happiness. [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/these-are-...

Studying the charts, only 6 counties exist in both info graphics. Some observations;

Switzerland is the happiest country but works the second most hours Belgium works the third least hours and is at 19 on the happiness chart * The US is still in the top 15 happiest countries

Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds

#43

Post by creshal »

AlexeyBrin wrote: post #11
webaholic wrote: post #3

How happy are they working that extra 25%? They are richer, sure. But I don't think being rich is an indicator of your overall state. Looking at [1], you can see that people in european countries come out on top of the happiness index. One could argue that working less is actually better for productivity and overall happiness. [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/these-are-...

In most cases is not like they (the Americans) have a choice to work less hours. Vacation time in North America is significantly under the European norm.

We have more (paid) vacation and more public holidays and sick leave is both paid for and not counted towards the vacation budget, and more maternity/paternity leave, and some countries have extra leave for things like family funerals.

It's not hard to "work less" like that.

Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds

#44

Post by pessimizer »

V-2 wrote: post #23

The number of hours doesn't tell the whole story though. Working cultures differ a great deal. You may put in longer hours, but then it's more laidback, with more socializing etc. whereas somewhere else it's clock-in, work, clock-out, no fooling about.

I'm not sure why you think that European workplaces are stricter than US workplaces, or that US jobs are generally laid back.

Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds

#45

Post by V-2 »

webaholic wrote: post #3

How happy are they working that extra 25%? They are richer, sure. But I don't think being rich is an indicator of your overall state. Looking at [1], you can see that people in european countries come out on top of the happiness index. One could argue that working less is actually better for productivity and overall happiness. [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/these-are-...

> How happy are they working that extra 25%?

Is it even measurable? Some try. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report Americans don't do badly - on par with Germans (who are close to the top as far as Europe goes) and ahead of the UK, France, Italy, Russia (to name the 5 Europe's major economies).

Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds

#48

Post by awjr »

lintiness wrote: post #30
untog wrote: post #9

I've worked in both Europe and the US, and in my opinion, US workers are far worse off for it. You earn more money in the US, you can advance faster, but you have next-to-no vacation time (and even when you do, you're still often expected to be reachable by e-mail), maternity/paternity leave is pitiful, and you have to pay large health insurance premiums, amongst other things. I know that isn't the case for everyone,…

some of us love work.

As long as you are working on your own stuff, that's usually fine.

Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds

#49

Post by mtberatwork »

lintiness wrote: post #30
untog wrote: post #9

I've worked in both Europe and the US, and in my opinion, US workers are far worse off for it. You earn more money in the US, you can advance faster, but you have next-to-no vacation time (and even when you do, you're still often expected to be reachable by e-mail), maternity/paternity leave is pitiful, and you have to pay large health insurance premiums, amongst other things. I know that isn't the case for everyone,…

some of us love work.

I'm sure many Europeans love their work too.

Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds

#50

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

webaholic wrote: post #3

How happy are they working that extra 25%? They are richer, sure. But I don't think being rich is an indicator of your overall state. Looking at [1], you can see that people in european countries come out on top of the happiness index. One could argue that working less is actually better for productivity and overall happiness. [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/these-are-...

Leaving aside Wall-street the Tech Bubble where people work grueling hours in the hopes of becoming a millionaire, the rest of the US works grueling hours because they need to in order to eat, pay their rent, etc. Telling someone who is working 40+ hours in order to make ends meet that they need to "work less" is tantamount to telling them to become homeless and destitute.
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