We're #1!!! USA!!! USA!!! USA!!!

[ChoppinBroccoli]

FACT: America is the most overworked, underpaid country in the entire industrialized world. Oh, but don't forget.........labor unions are EVIL!!!

A couple of excerpts from the article linked below:


American Work-Life Balance
■According to the Center for American Progress on the topic of work and family life balance, “in 1960, only 20 percent of mothers worked. Today, 70 percent of American children live in households where all adults are employed.” I don’t care who stays home and who works in terms of gender (work opportunity equality for all – it’s a family choice). Either way, when all adults are working (single or with a partner), that’s a huge hit to the American family and free-time in the American household.
■The U.S. is the ONLY country in the Americas without a national paid parental leave benefit. The average is over 12 weeks of paid leave anywhere other than Europe and over 20 weeks in Europe.
■Zero industrialized nations are without a mandatory option for new parents to take parental leave. That is, except for the United States.


American Average Work Hours:
■At least 134 countries have laws setting the maximum length of the work week; the U.S. does not.
■In the U.S., 85.8 percent of males and 66.5 percent of females work more than 40 hours per week.
■According to the ILO, “Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers.”
■Using data by the U.S. BLS, the average productivity per American worker has increased 400% since 1950. One way to look at that is that it should only take one-quarter the work hours, or 11 hours per week, to afford the same standard of living as a worker in 1950 (or our standard of living should be 4 times higher). Is that the case? Obviously not. Someone is profiting, it’s just not the average American worker.


American Paid Vacation Time & Sick Time:
■There is not a federal law requiring paid sick days in the United States.
■The U.S. remains the only industrialized country in the world that has no legally mandated annual leave.
■In every country included except Canada and Japan (and the U.S., which averages 13 days/per year), workers get at least 20 paid vacation days. In France and Finland, they get 30 – an entire month off, paid, every year.
■Then there’s this depressing graph on average paid vacation time in industrialized countries:



http://20somethingfinance.com/american-hours-worked-productivity-vacation/

[leftstreet]

1. K&R

[slay]

2. We've been screwed while the rich and powerful became even more so

and that's the nicest way I can say it without being really fucking vicious about it. :mad:

how has this happened? where is the party of THE PEOPLE??? how do we go about fixing a system that is this broken?

[drdtroit]

3. The population has been effectively mentally euthanized. n/t

[BlueMTexpat]

4. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco in the 1960s.

Morocco is still considered as part of the "developing" world, I believe. Its system was based on that in France because it was a French Protectorate from 1912-1956.

In the 1960s(!), among "fonctionnaires" (civil servants), not only did both parents have paid parental leave, but a working mother (and yes, there were women working there, even then, especially as administrative assistants, teachers and nurses - no change there, sigh) who got pregnant received up to four months paid maternity leave. Their jobs and seniority were not affected by their absence.

In the US at the same time, there was absolutely no paid maternity leave for women working at comparable positions. In fact, in education, the sector I knew best, women were required to resign after a certain point in their pregnancy - generally the fourth or fifth month - and received no pay, etc. If they were able to get their jobs back later, it was usually an exception to the rule.

That was a real eye-opener for me! Returning to the US was like taking a couple steps backwards.

[comtec]

5. You're graph has a mistake...

it's 25 days at jobs in the netherlands... and that's considered low.

The netherlands also has about 5/6 paid holidays a year.

that graph is also missing the fact that there are several paid holidays in the US where OT is mandatory for working on those days, at least in the states i've worked (mostly CA)

while overall it's correct that we get screwed royally in the US (remind me why im moving back?) it's not as glum as posted....but not by much.

What is nice in the Netherlands, is paternity leave a concept completely foreign in the US.

You get a few weeks to be home with your baby to bond. what a concept, a father bonding with his child!

[Obamanaut]

10. And your "you're" is a mistake. nt

[fizzgig]

16. there is no federal requirement that employees be paid overtime for working on holidays

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/overtimepay.htm

[stray cat]

6. Poor poor Americans....wealthy compared to most in the world

But completely ignorant of anyone who has less -entitlement of Americans is clear as they consider themselves too good to compare to third world countries.

[bullwinkle428]

8. AWESOME! I had full faith that at least someone here would be

quick to advocate stepping on the accelerator even harder in our race to the bottom!

[TheBigotBasher]

13. No longer. The banking crash made that mask slip.

GDP per capita

1 Luxembourg 105,918
2 Norway 78,178
3 Switzerland 63,536
4 Qatar 59,990
5 Denmark 56,263
6 Ireland 49,863
7 Netherlands 48,209
8 United States 45,934

That is on the best measurement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita

[annabanana]

7. Once again. WE must be the media. . . . . KICK. . n/t

[Obamanaut]

9. All that and yet people continue to migrate here, both legally and not. nt

[Zax2me]

12. Some die to get in...

And the ones that make it? Treated like hell.
And then still, they fight to stay.

[donheld]

11. k & R

[MrScorpio]

14. Yep, We're #1 Alright!

[WCGreen]

18. Good one Mr. S....

[Initech]

15. And the rich and powerful are like "Shut up! Go back to bed America!"

"Here, watch American Idol and get fat and stupid. Oh and keep eating Taco Bell you fucking morons!!!"

[Amonester]

17. . n/t

:web: