US leads production per worker

[gerbick]

The output per U.S. worker last year was $60,728, the report said. Belgium, the highest-scoring European Union member, had an output of $54,333 per worker.

This, of course, runs contrary to the common view that American workers are lazy and unproductive. This is as released per the UN Labor Agency. you can read the whole story here...

[jamble]

That suprises me a little I must admit, I thought somewhere like Japan would top and Spain would be bottom

I can't say I've come across the feeling that American workers were lazy though.

[swampy]

it's generally accepted that Americans have a very good work ethic.

At least since that story in the papers about madonna complaining that british builders were lazy tea drinking layabouts.

[jamble]

Originally posted by swampy

At least since that story in the papers about madonna complaining that british builders were lazy tea drinking layabouts.

*sits at home in dressing gown and underpants sipping tea at 10.30am*

[Visionray]

Interesting. They must not have factored me into the equation, because I for sure would have dropped the average output to $50 per worker.

something to keep in mind in the article, the US has higher output overall, because they work more hours, but it does not have the highest output per hour of work.

[Hellsbellboy]

Originally posted by Visionray


something to keep in mind in the article, the US has higher output overall, because they work more hours, but it does not have the highest output per hour of work.

yes and the article also takes that into account.. don't try to take away from our #1 status..

[aversion]

Originally posted by Hellsbellboy
yes and the article also takes that into account.. don't try to take away from our #1 status..

you're number 4 if you take into account hourly productivity, but I still have to admit I'm surprised.

england barely has any production industry left, 2/3rds of our economy is people sitting in cubicles doing financial transactions or customer services, soon most of these places will be centred in india and we will have no industries at all. Pretty much everything we buy is french or german, we have a huge trade account deficit compared to other european countries (not compared to the states though).

yay for our government...

[Hellsbellboy]

Originally posted by aversion
you're number 4 if you take into account hourly productivity, but I still have to admit I'm surprised.

england barely has any production industry left, 2/3rds of our economy is people sitting in cubicles doing financial transactions or customer services, soon most of these places will be centred in india and we will have no industries at all. Pretty much everything we buy is french or german, we have a huge trade account deficit compared to other european countries (not compared to the states though).

yay for our government...

and the other 1/3 is in the Fish and chip shops..


I have to wonder how many hours Americans REALLY DO work.. i know alot 'say' 50 hours and junk like that.. but people that i work with take 2 hour lunches.. count the time they commute to work.. lots of coffee breaks... etc etc.

[aversion]

Originally posted by Hellsbellboy
and the other 1/3 is in the Fish and chip shops..

pfft, that's so 20th century, nowadays they're all starbucks and 'pret a manger's

[Hellsbellboy]

Originally posted by aversion
pfft, that's so 20th century, nowadays they're all starbucks and 'pret a manger's

damn that's too bad.. was always nice getting a bag a chips.

[aversion]

Originally posted by Hellsbellboy
damn that's too bad.. was always nice getting a bag a chips.

you can get chip flavoured potato snacks from some of the better delicatessens

[TallGuyLittleCar]

Originally posted by aversion
pfft, that's so 20th century, nowadays they're all starbucks and 'pret a manger's

first Leyland, now the fish'n'chips.

i hate what america is doing to the world.

[hurricaneone]

Originally posted by Hellsbellboy
and the other 1/3 is in the Fish and chip shops..

That's rich.

Coming from a person who lives in a country where you either work 15 hours/day or get branded a 'slacker', or work in a McDonald's and learn the finer elements of how to put together a Happy Meal.

[aversion]

Originally posted by hurricaneone
That's rich.

Coming from a person who lives in a country where you either work 15 hours/day or get branded a 'slacker', or work in a McDonald's and learn the finer elements of how to put together a Happy Meal.

I don't get it

[hurricaneone]

Originally posted by aversion
I don't get it

What's not to get?

From what I remember of it, the US economy is driven by workaholics who live in their respective offices, and expect anyone who works for them to do the same. This is following the ethos of 'Work now, play later, when your grunt work has made a $1 million (or more)'.

There is no middle ground, 8-hour workers, unless you count the few remaining unionized workforces that were not broken by the Reagan administration.

Then, at the other end of the scale, you have the service economy, which generally inspires people to feel denegrated, belittled and forgotten about, especially as it is quite easy to make more money on welfare than it is making the minimum wage.

So, Americans make more, per worker, than anyone else. Big deal. That proves exactly a big, fat nothing. It is a statistic, nothing more, published because it makes everyone feel good. The overall job quality in the US is still pathetic, and then I have to hear a fella who will not take a word said against his precious homeland have a laugh at the UK's expense?

It's all warmed over crap.

[aversion]

Originally posted by hurricaneone
What's not to get?

From what I remember of it, the US economy is driven by workaholics who live in their respective offices, and expect anyone who works for them to do the same. This is following the ethos of 'Work now, play later, when your grunt work has made a $1 million (or more)'.

There is no middle ground, 8-hour workers, unless you count the few remaining unionized workforces that were not broken by the Reagan administration.

Then, at the other end of the scale, you have the service economy, which generally inspires people to feel denegrated, belittled and forgotten about, especially as it is quite easy to make more money on welfare than it is making the minimum wage.

I don't get what's that got to do with a joke about fish and chip shops, it just looks like you're going out of your way to make a dig at hellsbellboy.

there's a certain redundancy in the whole comparison because it's not based on an index but on a dollar comparison which is obviously greatly variable over time, I just thought we were having a bit of fun here...

as for working conditions in the states, I lived there for more than four years and knew people in pretty much every walk of life, none of them were under the kind of conditions you mention above, most of them work 38-44 hour weeks, whether it's in an office, in government or in a factory. Only people I know who work longer than that are people who earn 6 figures as lawyers or brokers.

that's my experience anyway.
:|

[mg33]

I saw that too. Interesting, considering the number of labor jobs, and now a good number of tech jobs, that are being sent overseas so someone can be paid about 95% less than an American worker.
NAFTA, while having a hand in creating a number of goods that are sold for low prices in the US, is definatly responsible for the number of American workers laid off of manufacturing jobs in the US. Doesn't matter what type of industry it is, or how undesirable the job is to you, aka pushing a button on a factory assembly line-these are our workers in our country loosing their jobs, loosing their homes so someone in another country can be paid pennies on the dollar of an American worker.

I'm personally sick of it.

mg33

[Hellsbellboy]

Originally posted by aversion
I don't get what's that got to do with a joke about fish and chip shops, it just looks like you're going out of your way to make a dig at hellsbellboy.

there's a certain redundancy in the whole comparison because it's not based on an index but on a dollar comparison which is obviously greatly variable over time, I just thought we were having a bit of fun here...

as for working conditions in the states, I lived there for more than four years and knew people in pretty much every walk of life, none of them were under the kind of conditions you mention above, most of them work 38-44 hour weeks, whether it's in an office, in government or in a factory. Only people I know who work longer than that are people who earn 6 figures as lawyers or brokers.

that's my experience anyway.
:|

that's my experience also.. i only know one lawyer, my brother in law.. he works alot.. but at his place of work he's got 10 weeks of Vacation, and he just graduated from law school 4 years ago.. I get 2 weeks. or 3 weeks with sick leave. anyhoo i was messing about. Sure some americans work alot.. but i believe like that articled stated not all 15 hours of the work days that people 'claim' they work are productive hours.. or hours that the more common people work.

[hurricaneone]

Originally posted by aversion
I don't get what's that got to do with a joke about fish and chip shops, it just looks like you're going out of your way to make a dig at hellsbellboy.

there's a certain redundancy in the whole comparison because it's not based on an index but on a dollar comparison which is obviously greatly variable over time, I just thought we were having a bit of fun here...

as for working conditions in the states, I lived there for more than four years and knew people in pretty much every walk of life, none of them were under the kind of conditions you mention above, most of them work 38-44 hour weeks, whether it's in an office, in government or in a factory. Only people I know who work longer than that are people who earn 6 figures as lawyers or brokers.

that's my experience anyway.
:|

One of the primary contributing factors to my leaving the US was the complete lack of opportunity to advance in any given position, unless you were the guy burning the veritable midnight oil.

If that's what you have to do to get 'noticed' in US business, if that's what you have to do to progress onto 'middle management' so you can make a house-buying, car-payment-supporting, family-feeding salary, then they can have it. Have it all.

Our experiences were obviously different.

[gerbick]

do I confess now or later that I'm one of the aforementioned workaholics?