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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

#211

Post by corobo »

nether wrote: post #111
ajmurmann wrote: post #32

I 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'm crushing it. The harder I work, the luckier I get. This is why the US has more billion dollar startups. This isn't my first rodeo. 25% more is nothing, try 50%. Eventually, work will set me free.

No matter our differences, our The Apprentice candidates all sound the same

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

#212

Post by toomuchtodo »

future1979 wrote: post #170
deanCommie wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agreed having lived and worked in all 3. Canada is the sweet spot.

I'm in the process of moving to Toronto from the US. Any tips on good tech companies to work for. :)

Freshbooks or Shopify.

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

#213

Post by akhatri_aus »

weberc2 wrote: post #95
akhatri_aus wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wont have healthcare cost problems in London though.. for starters.

What are these healthcare cost problems? U.S. software companies pay for employee health insurance while still maintaining higher salaries. Perhaps the healthcare system in England is marginally better than in the U.S., but I'm not aware of any health care crisis among U.S. software professionals.

On the health costs specifically: You basically get your health insurance for life & as understood at the moment portable to other EU countries, what happens when you lose your job or if your startup folds in the US or your insurance provider wont honour? I don't want to sound like some troll or something but theres tonnes of articles that go through the differences.

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

#214

Post by wil421 »

creshal wrote: post #43
AlexeyBrin wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I have all this things in the US. Sick leave is not counted in my vacation.

Maternity leave is much longer than paternity. And is paid for in full at my company for a time. FMLA allows 12 weeks total but it can be unpaid.

The main difference I've seen with the Europeans I work with is, they take big chunks off at a time in summer. They pay more taxes but have more time off. Most likely don't get full pay for Maternity/paternity leave.

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

#215

Post by rifung »

aianus wrote: post #104
tirant wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Nobody is stopping you but why would you work 60 hours a week for some boring European company that only pays you EUR60k when you can work the same hours in SV on something interesting and make $150k+.

Are you implying all European companies are boring? That seems like a strange assumption..

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

#216

Post by smrtinsert »

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-...

When I think of my european colleagues I'm always struck by a little jealousy. They enjoy an unbelievable quality life. They seem to be on vacation all the time and their cities are incredibly pleasant. The US has so far to go. There is no meaningful comparison that can be made by using currency.

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

#217

Post by endisukaj »

RandomName2020 wrote: post #103
jypepin wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a very light analysis from me, so might not be fully true, but I live in the US, now in Europe, and in Canada before that. You could also say Canada is kind of in the middle. Well, maybe correlation doesn't imply causation in that case but here is what I can see: - US > Canada > Europe in terms of opportunities, be it starting salary, end-of-career salaries, and everything in the middle such as promotions, perso…

> it's harder to move from a class to another compared to the US. Not true: social mobility in US is lower than in Europe and Canada.

> Not true: social mobility in US is lower than in Europe and Canada.

I can't speak about Canada but I seriously doubt that social mobility is higher in Europe. Again, you can't generalize. It may be far easier to move from a class to another in Germany than for example Italy or France.

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

#218

Post by war1025 »

weberc2 wrote: post #95
akhatri_aus wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wont have healthcare cost problems in London though.. for starters.

What are these healthcare cost problems? U.S. software companies pay for employee health insurance while still maintaining higher salaries. Perhaps the healthcare system in England is marginally better than in the U.S., but I'm not aware of any health care crisis among U.S. software professionals.

The company I work for offers amazing health insurance for me at no cost.

However, if I want to put my wife and child on company health insurance, even the worst plan costs within $100 of my monthly rent.

It's not breaking the bank, but it is certainly a major part of our budget.

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

#219

Post by endisukaj »

NietTim wrote: post #21

An old infographic I had bookmarked which shows this pretty clearly: https://i.imgur.com/Vkd1I01.png Also shows that working more != more pay (I'm Dutch, maybe you can see why I bookmarked it)

I find it ironic that Greece is the third hardest-working country in there. What with the whole stereotype of the lazy Greek.

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

#220

Post by Shivetya »

ajmurmann wrote: post #32

I 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…

Sadly, and i know this does not apply to all at the lower end of the income scale, you would be shocked at how some people spend the money they do get. Just get into the home rental business and you will see a world that really needs some fixing.

I am still a believer in that you can move up in society but schools fail to teach people to prioritize their expenditures and to separate needs from desires. It is much easier to stay poor than to stay rich.

I am not sure of the European mindset but I do find a lot of new generations never seem to let go of the need to have the latest stuff. I have relatives in the 75+ range and even they are the stereotype of age, even the stove is older than the kids. Yet the younger generations have bought into an ever in debt lifestyle mostly because they never lived through a real depression or war.

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