It is classic!
Perhaps we are working longer number of hours but we are also not the most productive.
How is that possible?
| Data extracted on 25 Feb 2012 16:34 UTC (GMT) from OECD.Stat |
| Data from 1979: | http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/42/35205504.pdf | |||||||||||
| Frequency | Annual | |||||||||||
| Time | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
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| Country | ||||||||||||
Australia |
1 780 | 1 739 | 1 732 | 1 737 | 1 732 | 1 727 | 1 719 | 1 712 | 1 717 | 1 690 | 1 686 | |
| Austria |
1 658 | 1 657 | 1 652 | 1 658 | 1 663 | 1 652 | 1 642 | 1 632 | 1 620 | 1 581 | 1 587 | |
| Belgium |
1 545 | 1 577 | 1 580 | 1 575 | 1 549 | 1 565 | 1 566 | 1 560 | 1 568 | 1 550 | 1 551 | |
| Canada |
1 775 | 1 768 | 1 747 | 1 736 | 1 754 | 1 739 | 1 738 | 1 738 | 1 728 | 1 700 | 1 702 | |
| Chile |
2 263 | 2 242 | 2 250 | 2 235 | 2 232 | 2 157 | 2 165 | 2 128 | 2 095 | 2 074 | 2 068 | |
| Czech Republic |
2 092 |
2 000 | 1 980 | 1 972 | 1 986 | 2 002 | 1 997 | 1 985 | 1 992 | 1 942 | 1 947 | |
| Denmark |
|
1 581 | 1 587 | 1 579 | 1 577 | 1 579 | 1 579 | 1 586 | 1 570 | 1 570 | 1 559 | .. |
| Estonia | 1 987 | 1 978 | 1 983 | 1 985 | 1 996 | 2 010 | 2 001 | 1 999 | 1 969 | 1 831 | 1 879 | |
| Finland |
1 751 |
1 733 | 1 726 | 1 719 | 1 723 | 1 716 | 1 709 | 1 706 | 1 704 | 1 673 | 1 697 | |
| France |
|
1 591 | 1 579 | 1 537 | 1 533 | 1 561 | 1 557 | 1 536 | 1 556 | 1 560 | 1 554 | .. |
| Germany |
1 473 | 1 458 | 1 445 | 1 439 | 1 442 | 1 434 | 1 430 | 1 430 | 1 426 | 1 390 | 1 419 | |
| Greece |
|
2 121 | 2 121 | 2 109 | 2 103 | 2 082 | 2 086 | 2 148 | 2 115 | 2 116 | 2 119 | 2 109 |
| Hungary |
|
2 057 | 2 011 | 2 019 | 1 990 | 1 993 | 1 993 | 1 989 | 1 985 | 1 986 | 1 968 | 1 961 |
| Iceland |
|
1 885 | 1 847 | 1 812 | 1 807 | 1 810 | 1 794 | 1 795 | 1 807 | 1 807 | 1 716 | 1 697 |
| Ireland |
1 719 | 1 713 | 1 698 | 1 671 | 1 668 | 1 654 | 1 645 | 1 634 | 1 601 | 1 549 | 1 664 | |
| Israel |
.. | .. | .. | .. | 1 905 | 1 989 | 1 887 | 1 921 | 1 898 | 1 889 | .. | |
| Italy |
1 861 | 1 843 | 1 831 | 1 826 | 1 826 | 1 819 | 1 815 | 1 816 | 1 803 | 1 772 | 1 778 | |
| Japan |
1 821 | 1 809 | 1 798 | 1 799 | 1 787 | 1 775 | 1 784 | 1 785 | 1 771 | 1 714 | 1 733 | |
| Korea |
2 512 | 2 499 | 2 464 | 2 424 | 2 392 | 2 351 | 2 346 | 2 306 | 2 246 | 2 232 | 2 193 | |
| Luxembourg |
1 662 | 1 646 | 1 635 | 1 630 | 1 586 | 1 570 | 1 580 | 1 515 | 1 555 | 1 601 | 1 616 | |
| Mexico |
1 888 | 1 864 | 1 888 | 1 857 | 1 849 | 1 909 | 1 883 | 1 871 | 1 893 | 1 857 | 1 866 | |
| Netherlands |
1 435 | 1 424 | 1 408 | 1 401 | 1 399 | 1 393 | 1 392 | 1 388 | 1 379 | 1 378 | 1 377 | |
| New Zealand |
1 828 | 1 817 | 1 817 | 1 813 | 1 828 | 1 811 | 1 788 | 1 766 | 1 750 | 1 738 | 1 758 | |
| Norway |
1 455 | 1 429 | 1 414 | 1 399 | 1 417 | 1 420 | 1 414 | 1 419 | 1 423 | 1 407 | 1 414 | |
| Poland |
1 988 | 1 974 | 1 979 | 1 984 | 1 983 | 1 994 | 1 985 | 1 976 | 1 969 | 1 948 | 1 939 | |
| Portugal |
1 765 | 1 769 | 1 767 | 1 742 | 1 763 | 1 752 | 1 757 | 1 727 | 1 745 | 1 719 | 1 714 | |
| Slovak Republic |
1 844 | 1 833 |
1 780 | 1 734 | 1 774 | 1 785 | 1 779 | 1 793 | 1 790 | 1 738 | 1 786 | |
| Spain |
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1 731 | 1 727 | 1 721 | 1 706 | 1 690 | 1 668 | 1 656 | 1 636 | 1 647 | 1 653 | 1 663 |
| Sweden |
1 642 | 1 618 | 1 595 | 1 582 | 1 605 | 1 605 | 1 599 | 1 618 | 1 617 | 1 602 | 1 624 | |
| Switzerland |
1 688 | 1 650 | 1 630 | 1 643 | 1 673 | 1 667 | 1 652 | 1 643 | 1 640 | .. | .. | |
| Turkey |
1 937 | 1 942 | 1 943 | 1 943 | 1 918 | 1 936 | 1 944 | 1 911 | 1 900 | 1 881 | 1 877 | |
| United Kingdom |
1 700 | 1 705 | 1 684 | 1 674 | 1 674 | 1 673 |
1 668 | 1 670 | 1 665 | 1 643 | 1 647 | |
| West Germany |
1 451 | 1 439 | 1 428 | 1 422 | 1 426 | 1 419 | 1 416 | 1 420 | 1 417 | 1 379 | 1 409 | |
| United States |
1 836 | 1 814 | 1 810 | 1 800 | 1 802 | 1 799 | 1 800 | 1 798 | 1 792 | 1 768 | 1 778 | |
| Russian Federation |
1 982 | 1 980 | 1 982 | 1 994 | 1 994 | 1 990 | 1 999 | 2 000 | 1 997 | 1 973 | 1 976 | |
| OECD countries |
1 818 | 1 802 | 1 794 | 1 785 | 1 783 | 1 782 | 1 779 | 1 773 | 1 767 | 1 741 | 1 749 | |
But wait! Read between the lines. It tells us something more that is not obvious immediately!
Pascal Marianna, who is a labour markets statistician at the OECD says: “The Greek labour market is composed of a large number of people who are self-employed, meaning farmers and shop-keepers who are working long hours.” Self-employed workers tend to work more than those who have specified hours in an employment contract.
The second reason Mr Marianna points to is the different number of part-time workers in each country. “In Germany, the share of employees working part-time is quite high. This represents something like one in four,” he says. As these annual hours figures are for all workers, the large proportion who work part-time in Germany is bringing down the overall average.
In Greece, far fewer people work part-time. If you account for these factors by stripping away part-time and self-employed people and look only at full-time salaried workers, the Greeks are still working almost 10% more hours than the Germans.
- Which of the two countries do you notice has people who are willing to work for and with others. Which one is not as willing to do so? Would that be Germany or would it be Greece?
- Which country do you think is more likely to go into debts. Those whose people could work with each other or those who prefer to work alone?
- So, is the story of debts in Greece a surprise or had it all along been ‘a bomb waiting to go off!’? But the world did not know better?
- Which countries in your view would see their revenues far exceeding their costs? Which ones would not?
- What is the price we are paying as a nation? As the world with the Greece bailouts!
26 February 2012 Last updated at 01:05 GMT Are Greeks the hardest workers in Europe?
By Charlotte McDonaldBBC News
Europe’s top 10 and bottom 10 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most hours worked | Most productive | Least hours worked | Least productive | |
| 1 | Greece | Luxembourg | Netherlands | Poland |
| 2 | Hungary | Norway | Germany | Hungary |
| 3 | Poland | Ireland | Norway | Turkey |
| 4 | Estonia | Belgium | France | Estonia |
| 5 | Turkey | Netherlands | Denmark | Czech Rep |
| 6 | Czech Rep | France | Ireland | Portugal |
| 7 | Italy | Germany | Belgium | Slovakia |
| 8 | Slovakia | Denmark | Austria | Greece |
| 9 | Portugal | Sweden | Luxembourg | Slovenia |
| 10 | Iceland | Austria | Sweden | Iceland |
| The UK ranks 14th both in terms of hours worked and in terms of productivity | ||||
| Source: OECD | ||||
Image via Wikipedia
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