Earlier quoted context omitted.
You wont have healthcare cost problems in London though.. for starters.
But other professions are comparable.
Cite ?
Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds
61–70 of 405 posts
Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds
#62How 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-...
It's almost like working 60+ hour weeks churning out CRUD apps to get a rich person richer isn't the secret path to happiness or something.
The amount of time spent commuting certainly doesn't help either.
Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds
#63I'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.
What % of the population do you think that applies to? I'm very glad for you that you love your work enough to dedicate all the time you have available to it, but there a hell of a lot of people out there in the US who have to, and neglect their families, mental and physical health just to get by.
Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds
#64Thing is, in the software world at least, you earn >25% more than Europeans in the US. Just look at salaries in London. Given the extraordinary cost of living, salaries are pitiful. Why is that?
Because European governments take a lot more out of your salary before it reaches you in exchange for social services (pensions, healthcare, etc). Unlike America where you are expected to either drop a stack of bills just to see the doctor or die in the streets.
The less inflammatory way of putting that is that the costs of employing someone in most European countries are rather high; up to 100% of salary in many cases.
Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
some of us love work.
And you can still do that in Europe, no one is stopping you from working more. And even better, as you have more free time, you can use it for your own projects.
> And you can still do that in Europe, no one is stopping you from working more.
Well, unions do. But that's a good thing, it prevents a race to burnout.
Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds
#66Thing is, in the software world at least, you earn >25% more than Europeans in the US. Just look at salaries in London. Given the extraordinary cost of living, salaries are pitiful. Why is that?
> Just look at salaries in London. Given the extraordinary cost of living, salaries are pitiful. That certainly wasn't the case when I was working in London about 10 years ago. The going rate for a Java contractor with banking experience was about £600 per day (then $1,100). Have things changed that much in 10 years?
I am not living there but I think salaries for generic Java/.net/Webapps etc is going down mainly due to high supply of tech workers.
In US our company offices are moving from major tech hub to smaller city. Initially most people decided to collect severance and find another job locally but now many are finding it difficult to find job with generic IT skills sets and reevaluating their initial decision.
Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that doing the dollar conversion at pre- or post-Brexit prices? It's now 20% worse than it used to be. I'm not in London, but I'm seriously considering sniffing around for jobs which can be done with transatlantic remote working. Sadly that's a rare and oversubscribed option :(
Timezone issues are probably much of an impediment when it comes to remote employment (over the pond)
Since the eastern US is only five hours behind London, you could have free time during the day and work mostly in the evening? Matinée prices, lunch specials, and most importantly sunlight abound! Right now I work for all of the good parts of the day and have free time during the bad parts.
Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds
#68The 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.
I didn't say I think that. If anything, I hinted at it as a possibility worth considering (not phrased as extremely as "US jobs are generally laid back").
It should be looked into if you want to put things in perspective.
In Germany business culture is certainly one of more intense focus, at least in office jobs. Not that it's representative of the whole Europe, of course.
Still, raw numbers don't say the whole story. That's why such findings should be taken with some distance.
Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds
#69I find it astonishing how positive Bloomberg tries to spin this: People earn a wider range of incomes in the U.S., so “workers have an incentive to try harder to move up the job ladder because a promotion is worth more,” said Dora Gicheva -The income range in the US is so large that there are lots of people at the bottom end who have to work multiple jobs. How much does that have to do with the longer work hours, Blo…
I had a boss (CTO) who worked in the USA (SV) and the UK he commented that he got about the same amount of work from both teams bear in mind that the UK team was ex civil service :-)
Re: Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds
#70I'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 think you're confusing loving to work and loving to be at work.