Are Americans too lazy?

[Cheekg98]

Are Americans too lazy? U.S. workers can't compete globally unless they work harder, writes Fortune's Geoff Colvin. By Geoff Colvin, Fortune senior editor-at-large August 23 2007: 6:10 AM EDT

 

(Fortune Magazine) -- We Americans pride ourselves on being a hard-working bunch, so here's a thought to spoil your Labor Day rest: By global standards, we're lazy. We've been getting lazier. And the days of the American dolce vita may be numbered.

The surprising report of our relative sloth arrives in new research from the UN's International Labor Organization, which looks at working hours around the world. When it comes to what we might call hard work, meaning the proportion of workers who put in more than 48 hours a week, America is near the bottom of the heap. About 18% of our employed people work that much. We're enjoying our wealth. Sweating less and having more is the idea. GE chief Jeff Immelt is a believer in work-life balance, but wonders about America's ability to compete. More from FORTUNE Bernanke: The un-Greenspan

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Couch-potato nation

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That's a higher proportion than in a few other developed countries like Norway, the Netherlands, and even Japan. But it's actually lower than in Switzerland and Britain, and way lower than in developing countries like Mexico and Thailand. It's drastically lower than in what may be the world's two hardest-working countries, South Korea and Peru, where the proportions are about 50%. Is America falling apart? Ask Ayn Rand

 

It's bad enough to be told we're slackers in the world economy. What many Americans really won't want to believe is separate research showing that we're working much less than we used to.

 

I know, I know -- you're working harder than ever, and so is your spouse. But we're not talking about you; we're talking about the whole country, on average. And I'm afraid the findings are dramatic.

 

We have increased our leisure time enormously over the past 40 years -- so much so that it "corresponds roughly to an additional five to ten weeks of vacation a year," says a study by Mark Aguiar of the Boston Fed and Erik Hurst of the University of Chicago business school, who conducted the study.

 

People with jobs are working fewer hours. Compounding the effect, fewer of us work at all, with growing numbers of people spending more time in retirement.

Of course, there's more to work than what we do on the job; there's also the work we do at home, and that too has fallen drastically. (It has fallen on average; men are actually doing a bit more work at home than they used to, but women are doing much less.) What do you think?

 

Put it all together, and the researchers figure we're getting about 117 hours of leisure per week (including sleep), vs. 110 hours in 1965. That's more than 360 additional idle hours per year. We are a couch-potato nation.

 

You may wonder why I seem to be putting negative spin on these findings. Why should our massively expanded leisure be cause for anything but celebration?

 

After all, we're a much richer country than we were in 1965, and we're enjoying our wealth, just as economic theory would predict. Sweating less and having more is the whole idea.

 

The problem isn't what has happened, unless you figure we've just explained the obesity epidemic, but rather what might happen next. Every day more of us work in a global labor market, competing for jobs with people around the world. One thing markets do really well is fix disequilibriums; when anything tradable sells for different prices in different places, those differences soon disappear.

Americans and others in developed economies are selling the world's most expensive labor. In a global market, some of those prices -- our pay -- will have to stop rising and maybe even come down, while pay in China, India, and elsewhere goes up.

Economists see it happening already, attributing some of the surprising flatness in Americans' real total compensation of the past few years to the presence of millions of global workers competing for jobs. A Cerberus deal goes bad ... and workers pay the price

 

That's one way that markets equilibrate. Another way may affect how hard we work. It's obvious that if real total pay is going nowhere, we may have to work harder just to improve our living standard.

 

More important, in the growing number of jobs not paid by the hour, people who work harder may just produce better results. General Electric chief Jeff Immelt put it bluntly while recalling a trip to Beijing last year, when he got a big order from the Transport Ministry: "The whole ministry was working all day on a Sunday. I believe in quality of life, work-life balance, all that stuff. But that's the competition. So unless we're willing to compete ..."

 

He has identified the issue. Competing in a global labor market may require us to put in more hours just to stay in the game. As Immelt asks, "Are we willing to compete for the future?"

 

Try to enjoy your Labor Day rest. You'll need it.

Tell us what you think? Are Americans a bunch of slackers?

[Typhoonz]

Some are some aren't...

[Acemundo]

not only lazy, but also stupid

[Hicksau]

ehh... why say that?

[Acemundo]

bush is a real life example....

 

and he's not just one exception.

 

all my colleagues, my wife colleagues who work closely with a lot of americans experienced that.

 

the smarter americans we have worked with happen to be of asian descent or are the top management of the company (which aint fair representations of the average americans). i know a lot of pple may not agree with me and claim these are one-off incidences. but i have seen enough to think these are not merely exceptions.

[Typhoonz]

Wah... But I would say that there are always exceptions... Doesn't matter if the exceptions form the minority...

[Genie47]

Your typical American is indeed not very well informed of the world. Yes, most of the smart ones are Asian descent or top management. I have experienced this myself. Aussies also exhibit this statistic.

[Acemundo]

of course there will always be exceptions like girls that like cars and guys that likes romantic serial movies.

 

there will never be any conclusion made if our criteria is to ensure 100% fit in the bill.

 

i stand by my view that most americans are not so intelligent.

[Turbine]

Means average of us are smarter than Americans?

[Typhoonz]

Any run ins with them?

[Acemundo]

i try to control myself when pointing out to them their stupid acts......

 

it is quite difficult for someone from the subsidiary to tell the HQ the many things they have done wrongly....

 

had only 1 run in with one of them. that was the worse of the lot......stupid and try to act gungho. the rest was ok because they accepted it when i pointed out their mistakes. this one stupid but try to act gungho but i tolerate. but eventually she was also removed by her boss....haha

[Typhoonz]

I see retribution has befell the dumb and proud...

 

Some of these people thinks that they are too damn high up to accept your views and comments...

[Acemundo]

for example, first day i went over for training (btw i am in the accounting side one), i told the Corporate Controller the accounting software sucks. Given that she was one of the person responsible for getting that software, she tried to justify by saying it is sufficient for our kind of setup. i didn't want to embarass her further but i felt like telling her i am not comparing to the SAP or Oracle. I can easily source a cheaper software sufficient for our kind of setup and at much cheaper cost. Now, all the users of this accounting software are complaining. And I am vindicated because they are looking for new accounting software.

 

another example, when i suggested to the CFO to shift our operations a particular tax regime that allows us to operate at lower tax rates (5-10%) than their USA tax rates, he laughed it off and say why go for 10% when he can have 0% in the Cayman Islands. I am amazed how poor in such knowledge our american CFO is. Yes, we have tax havens like Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands etc that we can get 0% tax rate. Even without detailed understanding of international taxes and tax planning, the fact that no MNCs or manufacturing companies locate their operations in such tax havens already suggested such a step is not viable. He tried to make himself look smart but he's proved himself to be the stupid person 2 years down the road.

 

Again, I am vindicated. 2 years down the road, his smarter CFO predecessor selected the option i have suggested initially and moved the operations to that tax regime. What's more he had to resign to preserve his dignity as the CFO prececessor was hired in without even him vacating the position first and he was demoted to Finance Director instead.

[Typhoonz]

They don't like an Asian to tell them off mah so just go on with whatever they think is best... Time has told these people that it's good to listen first, process what they have listened then comment...

[Genie47]

Uh....yes. Most of them. However, Asians like us tend to think we are not smarter than them.

[Comfy]

studied there for 1.5 years in LA.. i quite agree that most americans are rather unsure about the world and thinks they own the world.. laziness are also there too..

[Typhoonz]

It's the things that their gahmen has done mah... Creates a "American is the world's Big Brother" thinking...

[Crummytyre]

of course there will always be exceptions like girls that like cars and guys that likes romantic serial movies.

 

there will never be any conclusion made if our criteria is to ensure 100% fit in the bill.

 

i stand by my view that most americans are not so intelligent.

 

Funny enough, if you have the time and patience to sit through the credits in the more recent American TV hit series/productions or Hollywood movies, you'll notice very few names that are really true blue American. You'll find more Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Eastern European names in the production crew than traditional English ones. Even the big-time actors/directors are more likely to be foreign-born than born-American. Telling. The immigrants are holding up the industry.