Today I’ve worked on a project presented a court case written a paper in two different languages worked five hours and by the time you’re done reading this I’ll have written a column. Why? Because since I was a kid everyone has told me that hard work is rewarded by success specifically monetary success. And it wasn’t just said to me— every aspect of our culture engrained it in me. We all grow up learning from our books movies teachers and parents that if you put your nose to the grindstone you’ll come out ahead.
Except that’s not true at all. A common misconception is that the United States is both the hardest working and the highest earning (referring to gross domestic product per person) country in the world. The United States is neither and in fact barely makes the top 10 in both categories. This may catch you by surprise but it’s not the most interesting part of the story.
The most baffling revelation is that there is little to no correlation between average annual income and average hours worked when compared by nation. Here’s a (depressing) example. A 2008 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development study showed that South Koreans are by far the hardest workers in the world beating out the United States by 12 spots. Koreans average about 43 hours a week or 2256 hours per year compared with a 35-hour workweek in the United States. It is common in South Korea for a worker to expect to work from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and have three precious days of vacation every year which I imagine are filled with excitement sleeping.
Despite all this hard work South Korean’s make on average $17600 less than Americans every year. As sad as that is the statistics get even worse.
Last month France was crippled by riots. Employees in oil refining and transportation joined many industries across the country and stopped working. The resulting fuel shortage stopped the country in its tracks while protesters overran police barricades international flights were cancelled and ships full of goods were stranded at sea by clogged harbors. The country only began to crawl when President Sarkozy issued an emergency order for the nation to tap into its oil reserves.
Why the nationwide protest? Because of a measure by the French government to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. The new and improved retirement age would still put France three years below the international average of 65. Notorious for its attitude towards working France is one of the “lazier” countries on the list. Their 30-hour workweek puts them a full 30 spots below South Korea in terms of working hours. Despite the 696-hour annual difference the average French resident earns almost $23000 more a year.
A comparison of these two factors is sufficient to diminish anyone’s hard work ethic. It begs the question: What exactly leads a population to economic success? It’s a question that would take a lot more than 700 words and a few studies to answer and one that economists have been working on for decades. It would be nice if we could find a simple formula like hard work equals income but it is more likely a complicated (and subjective) combination of productivity culture industries natural resources tax rates and many other less exciting statistics that no one would write a column about.
Since that sounds both boring and hard I’ll just share some other interesting comparisons. Despite the fact that their military and political might has grown to rival that of the United States Russians make an average of less than $10000 a year. China a close economic competitor averages less than $4000 per person per year. On the flip side Germany Canada France and Japan all work less than the United States and have higher average incomes. If you need a little patriotic pick-me-up after this middle-of-the-road performance from the United States you’ll be satisfied to know the U.N. declared the U.S. the most “productive country in the world.”
Congratulations. If you can figure out what that title actually means let me know. Or better yet write a column about it.