Long working hours...

Thread Starter

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
This is something that I've long suspected, and that I have now confirmed. Look at the graph at the bottom of this article:

_86388650_work_year.png

P.S: My intent is to show a comparison of working habits of different countries, and confront stereotypes. I DO NOT want to discuss politics.
 
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Thread Starter

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
I don't think so. It's roughly half way between 2000 hours and 2400 hours.
You're right... I misread the number prior to 2,400 and thought it was 2,200 ... so it's more like ≈2,200 as joey said.
But I still find it pretty impressive that we're working around 40% more than the Germans. And truth being told, it might mean many things... like that we're harder workers, but the Germans are smarter workers. Otherwise the pay gap wouldn't be so great.
 
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Thread Starter

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
I have a hard time believing the number for Greece.
The key to understanding the graph is productivity... it doesn't matter how hard or how long you work if you don't do it smartly...
The thing is, neither the Greeks nor the Mexicans are lazy people. But in both cases most of the population is being employed either in bureaucracy or is doing "by hand" what in other countries is mostly automated.
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,237
The key to understanding the graph is productivity... it doesn't matter how hard or how long you work if you don't do it smartly...
The thing is, neither the Greeks nor the Mexicans are lazy people. But in both cases most of the population is being employed either in bureaucracy or is doing "by hand" what in other countries is mostly automated.
At one of our dinners, Milton recalled traveling to an Asian country in the 1960s and visiting a worksite where a new canal was being built. He was shocked to see that, instead of modern tractors and earth movers, the workers had shovels. He asked why there were so few machines. The government bureaucrat explained: “You don’t understand. This is a jobs program.” To which Milton replied: “Oh, I thought you were trying to build a canal. If it’s jobs you want, then you should give these workers spoons, not shovels.”
[Source]
 

Thread Starter

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
If it’s jobs you want, then you should give these workers spoons, not shovels
very hyperbolic, but more or less what I mean... syndicates and governments are hell bent on protecting worker's interests but are in fact holding back the population from making progress... still, today's Mexico is very, very different from the Mexico I grew up in back in the 60s and 70s... back then there was a single-party government, and there was virtually no freedom of speech... all of the media being under government control and all. That has definitely changed for the better...
In the last couple of years a few baby steps have been done in the right direction regarding productivity. By getting rid of powerful parasitic syndicates and opening up part-time jobs in the low-end spectrum... last thing remaining is the ever-present worm of corruption... but we've been making (a little) progress on that too... still, there's a long way ahead to go yet
 
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