French workers fight for the right to be lazy

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Jaguar

My Dad works 70.

Did you call him "Uncle" as a kid?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Except that I was demonstrating that a 50-hour workweek wasn't a "debilitating effect". You're saying a 50-hour workweek is bad - why? - because it's a 50-hour workweek, of course.

Would you like to see your father more, or is his cash an acceptable substitute?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Can someone explain to me why you all are defending a policy that hasn't had the effect it was sold as providing and has in fact hindered the very thing it was supposed to have helped?

Because your original thread was boring, so it's moved to a more interesting side-track. Duh!

[BeBMan]

Why do the French work so much?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by el freako
I have the exact figures Oerdin (no surprise there eh?)

Productivty in OECD members, measured by GDP per hour worked (2002 @ PPPs) and expressed as a % of USA:

1st, Norway 132%
2nd, Luxembourg 125%
3rd, France 120%
4th Belgium 114%
5th, Netherlands 109%
6th, Ireland 106%
7th, Austria 102%
8th, Germany 102%
9th, United States 100%
10th, Denmark 98%
11th, Italy 96%
12th, Finland 92%
13th, Switzerland 91%
14th, United Kingdom 90%
15th, Sweden 89%
16th, Australia 83%
17th, Canada 83%
18th, Spain 77%
19th, Japan 75%
20th, Iceland 72%
21st, New Zealand 65%
22nd, Greece 65%
23rd, Portugal 54%
24th, Hungary 52%
25th, Czech Republic 42%
26th, Mexico 39%
27th, Slovakia 39%
28th, Poland 38%
29th, South Korea 31%
30th, Turkey 26%

The full series is here

There we go. Japan- a nation in which the concept of wage-slavery is so deeply embedded that they invent words to cover death through over-work- ends up looking a bit slack.

Meanwhile Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands steam ahead. The future is all Guinness, cannabis, porn, tulips, and pickled herring.

[BeBMan]

I wonder why the Fins aren't first on that list. So they aren't only evil, but also lazy

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

There is no Finnish economy. The entire country gets by through sneaking across to Sweden and stealing shopping trollies and pets.

[aneeshm]

How many people have done a 72+ hour workweek ? I know many students who do that ( school + tutorial ) . I have done it myself . I have a 48 hour workweek . So I hope my opinions will not be dismissed out of hand by the elitists here who think themselves entitled to have their opinions respected not on the merits of their arguments , but by the range of their experience ( even if said experience is inadmissible ) .

And in case anyone has any doubt , I oppose any mandatory working time laws . Let the market ( i.e. , the individual(s) ) decide . It seems that this time , it is deciding in our ( the capitalists' ) favour .

[el freako]

Originally posted by DanS
However, for the last couple of decades, the decrease has taken a pause in the US, while it has continued outside the anglophone area.

I think the situation is more complex than that, during 1963-1983 average hours per year fell by 9.6% in the US compared with 16.2% in the EU15 so europe saw it's average hours fall by 7.4% more than the US did
In the next two decades (1983-2003) average hours fell by only 0.9% in the US but the rate of decline also slowed in the EU15 to 9.0%, the gap between the two did increace in the second period - but only to 8.2%.
In every country in europe the percentage fall in average hours was smaller during 1983-03 than in 1963-83 - in some the difference was dramatic, for example Sweden saw an 18.2% fall in average hours in 1963-83 but a 2.9% rise in 1983-03

Originally posted by DanS
To get a good sense of what's going on, it probably would make more sense to look at this as the total number of hours worked per capita per year, which would factor in the impact of retirement and vacations.

Happy to oblige

It was a very interesting exercise it was as well, some results below and the spreadsheet is attached to this post.

In 1963 there were 727 hours worked per head of population in the US compared to 861 in the EU15, in 1983 789 hours per head were worked in both and by 2003 the US had reached 860 and the EU 754 - so over the forty-year period the US and EU have changed places.

Germany saw the largest fall in hours worked per head over the period at 36%.

France has the lowest level of hours worked per head, at 564 this is only two-thirds of the US level

Almost all countries saw faster growth in hours worked per head during 1983-03 than during 1963-83 (the exceptions being Canada, Finland and Japan which saw slower growth and Germany and the United States which saw no change), the biggest turnaround was Spain which saw a 26% fall in 1963-83 turned into a 31% rise in 1983-03.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp


Did you call him "Uncle" as a kid?

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Oerdin


I'm unemployed but I imagine I still make more then you.

Besides I shall be employed again soon. I've got two interviews coming up next week both of which are well paying.

Well I'm a 36 year old student, but that's a long story.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


That's not why they build in China as opposed to Africa.

Where have I said jobs aren't going to China? In fact, that's what I did say, earlier. Jobs moving to a place != low unemployment.

There are many contributing factors to things. Low labor costs contribute to people operating in China. There is hardly ever one factor to things. That's why you have to be much more carefull about identifying cause and effect than your average polytubby.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


How is it particularly different from 35?

I thought you where a math wiz. Subtract 35 from 50, that's the difference.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Yeah, even if you work 20 hours a week, you are still working to live. It's silly to you aren't, unless you are welfare check collecting do-nothing.

Ehm, that's kinda of the point I was making. When you're working 20 hours a week (or as little as you can), you a working to live. When you are working 50+ hours a week (or as much as you can) you are living to work.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison


So what? Life isn't about nothing but work. And you try doing ridiculous hours if you are doing something far more taxing than what you are doing. When you've grown up and have a real job, we'll talk about it again.

Ageist. See avatar.