American workers are workaholics compared to their European counterparts. Twenty years ago, Europeans worked just as long and hard as the rest of the developed world. Over the years however, they steadily cut back on workweeks, while lengthening holidays and the trend has only accelerated in recent years.
U.S. growth per capita, a common measure of standard of living, grew at twice the rate of Europe’s largest economies in the 1990s.
Source: Christopher Rhoads, Short Work Hours Undercut Europe in Economic Drive, Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2002.
For text (WSJ subscribers) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1028753249194799400-search,00.htm
For more on International Labour Market Regulations and Productivity http://www.ncpa.org/iss/int
FMF Policy Bulletin\25 September 2002
