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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

#341

Post by AnimalMuppet »

kilon wrote: post #140

USA problems are well known for decades now https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM A glowing example of how a huge economy can also be a terrible economy . That 25% is only the tip of the iceberg. If Russia is the fall of communism , USA is the fall of capitalism. Two extremely stupid economic and political models. Is it a coincidence that both countries have the most rich in the world and a terrible track record…

> Is it a coincidence that both countries have the most rich in the world...

It is not true that both countries have the most rich in the world[sic].

Russia was never a rich country like the US - not before Communism, not during, and not after. It could create a good facade and a strong military, but that's not the same thing...

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

#342

Post by znpy »

zdkl wrote: post #336
wang_li wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's absurd to use languages spoken as a proxy for cultural diversity. That being said, according to wikipedia there are 430 languages spoken in the US. There are 32 languages used by 100,000+ people. And implying that simply because people speak the same language they have the same culture is nuts. People in Utah have the exact same language and accent as people in California but the two populations have very differ…

You and salmon30salmon are missing the point. Language is an indicator of 4000+ years of local cultural differentiation. The rest of us europeans are just trying not to say something about 200years worth of adopting cultures. That does indeed create a unique multifaceted community, but surely you realise how much in common you have with most of the rest of the US population? In Europe these language barriers correspo…

> Finns have very little in common with Italians

Yup. Consider that in the last world war italians and finns didn't even fight on the same side until a certain point in time.

Europe is a melting pot of cultures and to be quite honest I like it that way.

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

#343

Post by wott »

smrtinsert wrote: post #216
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.

> They enjoy an unbelievable quality life. They seem to be on vacation all the time and their cities are incredibly pleasant.

Er... I think you accidentally dropped a bucket of green paint on the other side of the fence :-)

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

#344

Post by henrikschroder »

misiti3780 wrote: post #245
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,…

Sorry for this small rant .... I dont understand why everyone is so caught up with answering emails on vacation. Yes - it's not ideal, but as long as your not expected to be on your phone all day, and in my experience, you are not unless you own your own business, are a doctor, etc. then what is the big deal? 5/10 minutes of email's in the morning means Europeans have a better work/life balance ? If you work for a sm…

To properly recharge during vacation, to get rid of work stress, and actually return to work energized, you need to disconnect from work. This means you have to do absolutely nothing that's connected to work for at least three weeks straight.

Shorter vacations spoil this. Emailing or talking on the phone while on vacation spoils this.

Quick question: Have you ever taken three consecutive weeks off work?

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

#345

Post by rue »

One interesting thing is that “25% more work” is taken at face value.

In my experience, that 25% does not equate to 25% more productive in any non-assembly line job.

Americans are busier, spend more time at work, and don’t get any more work done.

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

#346

Post by thedufer »

snovv_crash wrote: post #312
lg wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

google provides all of these benefits.

What would my commute to Mountain View be like? 10 minutes by train or bus, while living in affordable accommodation?

If only one of the biggest tech companies in the world had multiple offices.

I don't know about mountain view, but on Google's software dev salary you should be able to live within 10 minutes of pretty much all of their US offices. I know for sure it's possible in nyc.

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

#347

Post by mahyarm »

nathan_f77 wrote: post #193
sguav wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both. I guess the issue is that freelancing is not a thing here. Those that get into webdev through a company (especially marketing or nice startups) seem to be doing really well, but they are few to my knowledge.

Oh, I see what you mean, you're talking about freelancing for local companies. That's funny, my mindset is all about working remotely for companies in other countries, especially the US. I'm currently living in Thailand, where freelancing for a local company would mean earning something like $10-15 per hour. I would like to live and work in Italy as a freelancer, but I can only stay for 90 days at a time. Do you know…

Berlin is a pretty fun place.

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

#348

Post by shaftoe »

Merad wrote: post #76
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.

More and more Americans are getting stuck with High Deductible Health Plans, which for all intents don't exist until you fork over several thousand dollars to meet your deductible (excepting a limited range of "preventable care" items that are covered).

As someone without chronic expensive health needs, I've been on a HDHP with an HSA for almost a decade. They're great.

With a low deductible, I'm paying more up front so I can pay less if I need care. With an HSA and HDHP, I'm paying less for insurance and putting the difference into an interest-bearing account that I keep with me. Two different jobs that offered HDHPs also offered HSA contributions or matches.

Over time, my HSA has grown to roughly 3x my family's deductible. Tell me how I'm losing out?

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

#349

Post by thedufer »

RandomName2020 wrote: post #272
TDL wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not common knowledge to me, especially since I don't live in California. You have asserted certain claims and offer no evidence. "Common knowledge" isn't evidence.

I do not know how to even reply to that. Bus drivers, post delivery people, municipal construction workers etc. - all have better salaries and benefits than similar private workers. I am not sure how any adult living anywhere in US could manage to not know that.

You're talking past one another, I think. You are correct for most blue collar jobs; GP's description is accurate for most white collar workers.

Your downvotes are probably for your unnecessarily inflammatory final sentence.

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

#350

Post by eric_the_read »

criddell wrote: post #51
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-...

What surprises me the most is how much paid vacation time goes unused.

It used to be the case that you could "bank" unused vacation-- often indefinitely. When I started with HP in '92, there were engineers that saved up literal months of vacation time, and would then take it all at once to go spearfishing in the Bahamas or what-have-you.

Then when the .com bust happened, everybody started tightening their balance sheets, and huge piles of unused vacation time was an easy liability to get rid of. So they reduced the max vacation accumulation to 3 or 4 weeks over your yearly accrual in a year (but left you what you had, so you wouldn't gain new vacation if you were at the cap, but you wouldn't lose it either).

Then they tightened further, so you'd only accumulate 2 weeks, then 1 week over your yearly allotment.

It's possible that habits built when vacation was easy to hold on to die hard.

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