Why are Americans longer working hours and less vacation than Europeans?

It was issued in August 2016IZAStudies have revealed that Americans work an average of 25% longer than people in European countries. In the 1970s studies have been made on what is behind the fact that the great difference has spread so far in almost the same working hours.

Hours Worked in Europe and the US: New Data, New Answers
(PDF)http://ftp.iza.org/dp10179.pdf

Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds - Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-18/americans-work-25-more-than-europeans-study-finds

Arizona State University's research by Professor Alexander Bick et al. Is investigating the working environment of many countries, mainly in the United States and Europe. In the research, in order to easily compare work styles closer to labor realities, it is important not only for those who are stably working with employment contracts, but also for day laborers, irregular workers, part-time workers, retirement Working hours are counted, including those who are doing any work after that.

According to this study, the average European work was 19% less work than Americans, resulting in 258 hours of working hours per year. In the time being, Americans will be working 25% longer than Europeans. Also, in the United States, the retirement period of the work was delayed, and the tendency for vacation (long vacation) to be shorter was also confirmed. Since the length of working hours represents a low level of labor productivity, why the United States is worse in labor productivity than in Europe is considered as follows.

One is that Americans are making overtime a lot. It is pointed out that overall working hours are getting longer as people who think that they want to earn more money or want to promote ambitiously doing excessive labor.


It is thought that tax is also a cause. It is pointed out that there is a possibility that the tax of the United States is potentially lower than that of Europe and the height of the tax lowers the incentive to earn by overtime labor. Professor Lee Ohanian of the University of California, Los Angeles said, "There is a fact that Americans are one of the more wealthier reasons than Europeans, that taxpayers have reduced European labor motivation," I am talking.


There are also indications that the existence of labor unions also produces a difference between America and Europe. Furthermore, the difference in the general pension system also has a big influence on how to work. In the United States over the past 50 years, the largest number of people aged 65 or over engaged in labor, this is because in the United States from the traditional pension system401kIt is believed that the number of Americans who think that the life after retirement is stable is decreasing, as it has shifted to.