Why Americans and Britons work such long
hours
Derek Thompson argues: For the college-educated elite,
work has morphed into a religious identity—promising identity, transcendence,
and community, but failing to deliver.
“No large country
in the world as productive as the United States averages more hours of work a
year. And the gap between the U.S. and other countries is growing. Between 1950
and 2012, annual hours worked per employee fell by about 40 percent in Germany
and the Netherlands—but by only 10 percent in the United States. Americans
“work longer hours, have shorter vacations, get less in unemployment, disability,
and retirement benefits, and retire later, than people in comparably rich
societies,” wrote Samuel P. Huntington in his 2005 book Who Are We?: The
Challenges to America’s National Identity.
One group has led
the widening of the workist gap: rich men.
In 1980, the
highest-earning men actually worked fewer hours per week than middle-class and
low-income men, according to a survey by the Minneapolis Fed. But that’s
changed. By 2005, the richest 10 percent of married men had the longest average
workweek. In that same time, college-educated men reduced their leisure time
more than any other group.”