Ray Fischer wrote:
> RonG <rgesell@mb.sympatico.ca> wrote:
>> On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 05:01:16 +0000, Omphalos wrote:
>> 
>>> For years I always read about how much harder Japanese worked than
>>> other countries. Apparently the tide has turned, according to an
>>> International Labor Organization report, Americans work more hours
>>> now than any country in the world.
>>> 
>>> Hours worked per year:
>>> 
>>> US   1,979
>>> Japan  1,842
>>> UK  1,719
>>> Germany 1,480
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Productivity per worker (in US $):
>>> 
>>> US  $54,870
>>> Belgium $53,370
>>> Canada $44,870
>>> Japan $40,870
>>> 
>>> If you calculate productivity per hour Belgium and France come out
>>> on top. 
>>> 
>>> I think the longer # of hours worked in the US is due to
>>> opportunity; there has been a lot of work available in the past
>>> decade and people take advantage of it. I would expect lower
>>> productivity per worker in Japan since there has always been a lot
>>> of overemployment, keeping workers on that you don't really need.
>>> This raises business costs but lowers social costs associated with
>>> unemployment. 
>>> 
>>> All things considered, I think I'd rather live in France and have 6
>>> weeks vacation a year.
>>> 
>> 
>> Don't forget that in USA about 60% of the population is employed. In
>> Europe its between 45 and 52%. Not only are are Americans earning
>> more, 
>> but there are more of them earning more.
> 
> But in the US the greater productivity is going to make the already
> rich even richer.  Less of that earning actually goes into the pockets
> of the earners.

How so? The already rich are earners.

-- 
Kevin Gowen
"I'm not sure which is more frightening: the horror that engulfed New
York City or the apocalyptic rhetoric emanating daily from the White
House."  
 - Columbia University professor Eric Foner in the London Review of
Books, on the attacks of 11 September 2001. A new study has recently
suggested that the inferno that destroyed the World Trade Center and
killed thousands of innocents was indeed more frightening than the
rhetoric of the Bush administration.