In honor of Labor Day, let's hear it for the American worker. Fox News reports:
"The average U.S. worker produces $63,885 of wealth per year, more than their counterparts in all other countries, the International Labor Organization said in its report. Ireland comes in second at $55,986, followed by Luxembourg at $55,641, Belgium at $55,235 and France at $54,609."
Something to ponder, What is it about our society and culture that makes us want to work so hard?
24 comments:
American tradition is steeped in hard work and determination. While other countries have traditions which glorify relaxation (siestas) and extended vacations, Americans have always held on to the belief that through hard work you can achieve whatever you set your mind to - the American Dream.
Yes, as Derek said, it is the American tendency towards our ideal of an American Dream that pushes us to work harder. In other countries, such as France, a typical vacation usually runs closer toward a month or two months rather than the more typical week to two weeks of vacations taken by most Americans.
While I agree with Derek and Jared, I also think that, though Americans are very hard workers, it is not only the American dream that keeps them motivated. Some people get their motivation to work hard and achieve more out of pleasure of ending up on top. They want to have more and be better than those they are in competition with, therefore they work harder. We live in a competitive society which, in the end, can be a good thing in that it pushes people to work hard and be productive.
I feel like the fact that all immigrants in this country had to start out working hard to be able to get by was passed down generation to generation... Now, everyone works hard just like our ancestors in this country did.
The U.S. has always held strong to the "rags to riches" concept. Because the U.S. sets no limits, with hard work, anyone can become successful. This creates a lot of competition which, in turn,
keeps everyone working hard to stay on top.
Possitive outcomes will not always be created from hard work. There are also down sides. According to the NVDRS (National Violent Death Reporting System), the suicide and homicide rate within the United States has been increasing annually, due to "a stressful, bland, and repetitive life." Who ever supports hard work..... Thanx!
United States has alot of competition going on here itself, so they compete in about everything. If a person does not put hard work behind it, he or she will never be successful.
It's not that we choose to work so hard as Americans, but that we have to. Because of factors like immigrants that will either come to America illegally and work for much cheaper than the law allows or other immigrants that are smarter that most Americans and they get the jobs higher in the company. Americans don't like being beat and that is just the American tradition, but to save their jobs and keep their lifestyles with their families they use their competitive side to strive and be the best at their occupation.
I am so excited to see a postive entry about America. I am sick of the American worker getting a bad reputation. The worlds greatest economy doesnt just come out of thin air, it comes out of wise decision making by leaders and a strong back bone of workers. I agree with what Jared said, most other countries get so much time off for vacation and in Spain, siestas durring the day. This news only strengthens my resolve and faith in my nation, America, unlike Jessica, which is Canada, which is not America. Go USA.
Yes, it is great to see that reports have shown that the American worker is most productive compared to all the world's countries. However, I can't but feel sorry for workers in underdevelpoed countries that work over 2200 hours and make smaller outputs because of technological deficiencies.
As everyone else has really stated, the American tradition of hard work, emerging from early American (Protestant and Puritan communities) traditions where people would work from dawn to dusk. Life's not that so tedious now but Americans still retain much of those traditions as it is embedded into out cultures to work hard and prosper. Other societies, namely the French, often embrace socialist concepts of work. The French are legally entitled to long vacations, limits on working hours a week, which would eat away at productivity. Luckily, the new French president beat the socialist candidate will most likely emulate the United States, as he is quite favorable towards the United States.
Whatever! Americans are lazy!
Haha, I'm just kidding. Honestly, I don't think it's the fact that Americans want to work hard to be productive and help the economy. It's all about making money. That is all that anyone wants to do. They want to look-out for themselves and their own well-being. The majority of American workers could care less about everyone else as long as they are receiving a decent paycheck.
Does the retail value of American goods come into play at all... While other countries may not agree or respect our government, they have found that our goods to be reliable and trustworthy... So maybe it's not the worker, but simply the American name that's producing this high productivity appearance
The Competitive job market in America drives many to put in that extra effort, because if your not willing to someone else could get the promotion you were after or maybe even replace you.
I believe that Americans realize that in America, anybody can be the best as long as you work hard, which is what pushes them to do so. The American dream of the people can be reached with determination and dedication to their work.
Armando Harris
Period 3
While Americans may brag about this report, I doubt the rest of the world is going to view it in such a positive light. The US is probably going to be accused by jealous countries of increasing their wealth, not by producing more, but by rasing prices and making unethical profit over goods that are produced.Plus, now the US is going to be expected to give handouts to the rest of the undeveloped world, or else will appear as a greedy, capitalist monster to Europeans. Maybe if Europeans stop griping about the US and start working themselves, they could help out with the problems of the underdeveloped world that they appear to be so concerned about.
What is it about our society that makes us want to work so hard? Simple. Staying competitive in the world market.
Ok, let's say you're C-Rad Computer Company Inc. You sell 85% of your products to US citizens. They keep you in business. You advertise being an "American Company" products are "Manufactured in the USA", but you buy Indonesian micro chips and now you want to put your Customer Service Center in Bangladesh. Why? To help the poor starving people of Bangladesh? NO! Because Bangladesh has no minimum wage, your local manager there can hire for 1/100th what it would cost in the US. Who suffers?
After all, the US consumer will only buy his favorite brand as long as the price is competetive to the others in the same market for most items. Remember how many people started smoking generic cigarettes when the taxes went way up?
To be honest, I really don't care about foreign trade/relations when it comes to this. Every other country in the world protects their goods and their workers from US, it's time we did the same. We almost ruined the US steel industry being nice to other countries.
More US jobs, more US businesses, more US taxes, tariffs, penalities to finance wars on terrorists.
win Win WIN.
It's nice to see that we're not getting a bad rep for a change. There are still many things wrong with this country, but our workforce isn't one of them.
The common theme for Americans is to work and work and work, while in other countries they do not emphasize working to the extent that Americans do. While on a trip to Holland, I observed that the people relaxed, stopped to eat for hours, pretty much lived at a much slower pace than those in America. It has been drilled into our mindset that we must work for long periods of time. However as good for our economy as it may be, I feel that we may benefit from acting more like the people of the European Nation. They manage to not work as much and still come in right behind the US in productivity. Is this high rank in the world really worth the costs?
Hm...obviously I have issues with my computer. Back to what I was saying...
Why are Americans the hardest workers? People claim different things, but it's usually traditional values, competition to stay on top, and just getting by. At some point or another, we had some ancestors migrate to America and start a whole new life for themselves, and the only way to do that was to work hard. Hard-working values. Every day, we're faced with economic competition (China, Japan, Middle East, etc). Need to be competitive. There are thousands of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, day to day; surviving.
Why are Americans the hardest workers? Because we care.
Our nation and what makes it so great is the hard work of our foefathers and our modern day fellow citizens. Unlike other countries, Americans are able to work for what they earn and therefore have more motivation to work hard. Hard work and clean living is the American way.
People want to do the very best they can. When they see other people succeeding, they want to accomplish what they did. The harder the people work the better our society will be.
I'm impressed, but i'm not sure luxembourg should count in the standings. You have all these world powers and reknowned cultures and then there's luxembourg. I've never met anyone from luxembourg.
But i'm proud of the U.S. hopefully that combats the stereotype of fat guys on couches watching football games.
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