The Unrepentant Individual

...just hanging around until Dec 21, 2012


September 26, 2005


Indeed…

Effort

Hat Tip: Eidelblog

Posted By: Brad Warbiany @ 9:59 am || Permalink || Comments (2) || Trackback URL || Categories: Uncategorized

2 Comments

  1. It’s funny you (and the poster) refer to “hard work” with reference to France. They’re more productive per hour than we are per worker (a.k.a., more efficient).

    They, in fact, are one of three countries who work “harder” than we do. Of course, Americans put in way more hours.

    So, the poster should really be subtitled:

    Unpaid Overtime
    Hard Work Never Killed Anybody,Now Here’s Some More

    http://archives.cnn.com/2001/CAREER/trends/08/30/ilo.study/
    http://www.forbes.com/2005/03/22/cx_da_0322topnews_print.html

    Comment by D. J. — September 28, 2005 @ 3:19 am

  2. Wow, just think what economic growth they’d have if they took that insane productivity and worked 40 hour weeks!

    Seriously though, they are marginally more productive than an American worker. I haven’t looked into it too deeply myself, but I know the policies they have (high “living wage”, benefits, vacation, etc etc) cause very high unemployment. The subset of the population that remains unemployed is commonly the one that performs the least productive jobs in the workforce (or they’d be worth employing people to do those jobs). So the “more productive” meme is just like Krugman calling the countries with socialized medicine the best systems in the world because two metrics, infant mortality and life expectancy, are better than the US.

    Is France’s economy healthy? I find it hard to believe that an economy with 10% unemployment and 1% economic growth is healthy. At least compared to the US, where we work longer hours, but have 5% unemployment and about 3.5%+ economic growth year-to-year. And that’s not developing-country easy growth, that’s in the largest, most technologically advanced economy in the world. I’ve always wondered why the same leftists who harp on Bush for an economy with 5% unemployment want us to be more like Europe, where they have 10% unemployment in their welfare states…

    But here’s the rub. If I’m in France, and I work for my boss, and he’s paying me $X/year to work for him at 35 hours per week, what happens when I ask him if he’ll pay me $X+5000/year and I’ll agree to work 40 hour weeks? That’s right, it’s illegal.

    As far as I’m concerned, if you can negotiate yourself a 35-hour work week at a salary you find acceptable, more power to you. But when you hamstring me, by force of law, into that situation as well, I consider it a breach of my liberty. I am the type that will choose longer hours if it will earn me more money, especially since I’m young, have no kids, and can afford the time.

    Comment by Brad Warbiany — September 28, 2005 @ 9:58 am

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