When it comes to financial development, America comfortably beats Europe. Many elements have fed America’s outperformance, from tech innovation to huge oil reserves. However there may be one clarification that appears virtually too simplistic: that “Individuals simply work tougher”, as the top of Norway’s oil fund put it in an interview with the Monetary Instances on April twenty fourth.
The numbers do the truth is bear out this assertion—a uncommon case of nationwide stereotypes being empirically provable. On common Individuals work 1,811 hours per 12 months, in response to information from the OECD, a membership of principally wealthy nations. That’s 15% greater than within the EU, the place the typical is 1,571 hours. And it isn’t simply that Europeans spend just a few further weeks on the seashore. The everyday working day in Britain, France and Germany is half an hour shorter than in America, in response to the Worldwide Labour Organisation.
