Today, in the United States, we have a holiday to celebrate the working man. To me it's just a regular day because in my life, every day is a holiday. Anyway, the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation had an article about the American workforce.
U.S. workers rank with world's bestGeneva —- American workers stay longer in the office, at the factory or on the farm than their counterparts in Europe and most other rich nations, and they produce more per person over the year.
I worked a few 60 hour weeks until my CDSM© performed his management magic and demotivated me. When I retired I was working a French week, 32 hours a week. I came in late and left early. Even at that, they had to drop one of my projects when I left because my replacement (who worked 40 hours a week) didn't have the time. Even goofing off, I was more productive (he says as he is dislocating his arm patting himself on the back) than he was. Shucks! I was good and I know it.
They also get more done per hour than everyone but the Norwegians, according to a U.N. report being released today, which said the United States "leads the world in labor productivity."
Huh? WTF? If the Norwegians get more done per hour, how come we lead the world in productivity?
The average U.S. worker produces $63,885 of wealth per year, more than their counterparts in all other countries, the International Labor Organization said in its report. Ireland comes in second at $55,986, followed by Luxembourg at $55,641, Belgium at $55,235 and France at $54,609.
How did Ireland get there? It cut taxes and created a more pro-business environment.
So how did they arrive at these figures?
The productivity figure is found by dividing the country's gross domestic product by the number of people employed. The U.N. report is based on 2006 figures for many countries, or the most recent available.
And we have a high GDP (and it continues to grow) and we have low unemployment. If we had a Dimocrat president, the LSM would be screaming from the rooftops about our unemployment figures. We're at around 4.6 percent. France just got down to 6.9 oercent. If our unemployment was that high, we'd be in a recession. My French friend Prosper said that was OK because they take such good care of their poor with their social programs. I countered with just how bad our poor have it in the US.
Only part of the U.S. productivity growth, which has outpaced that of many other developed economies, can be explained by the longer hours Americans are putting in, the ILO said.
Maybe we're just better workers.
The United States, ac-cording to the report, also beats all 27 nations in the European Union, Japan and Switzerland in the amount of wealth created per hour of work —- a second key measure of productivity.
But I thought Japan and the EU were gonna put us out of business?
Good news for France.
Norway, which is not an EU member, generates the most output per working hour, $37.99, a figure inflated by the country's billions of dollars in oil exports and high prices for goods at home. The United States is second at $35.63, about a half-dollar ahead of third-place France.
There ya go Prosper. You can shout, "We're number 3! We're number 3!" and if Sarkosy gets his way, and overtime is not taxed, ya'll might have a chance to catch us. I'd like to say I doubt it except that it looks like the Dimocrats are gonna get a chance to torpedo our economic growth.
Seven years ago, French workers produced over a dollar more on average than their American counterparts. The country led the United States in hourly productivity from 1994 to 2003. The U.S. employee put in an average 1,804 hours of work in 2006, the report said. That compared with 1,407.1 hours for the Norwegian worker and 1,564.4 for the French.
America improved and France declined. What happened in 2003? Bush cut taxes which started the current economic boom. What's gonna stop it? Dimocrats are gonna raise taxes, especially if they retain Congress and Hillary Rodent Clinton gets elected.
America's increased productivity "has to do with the ICT (information and communication technologies) revolution, with the way the United States organizes companies, with the high level of competition in the country, with the extension of trade and investment abroad," said Jose Manuel Salazar, the ILO's head of employment.
USA! USA! USA!
Have a great Labor Day everyone!
Posted by denny at September 3, 2007 12:41 PMSome years ago, I remember reading a report that said that of all the Sony plants, worldwide, the one in California was the one that won the award for productivity.
The quality problem with American products is due to management, not the American worker.
A special on TV, years ago, told of a Motorola TV plant that had 140 defects per 100 units produced. Motorola got out of the TV business and sold the plant to Matsushita. They started making Quasar TVs. Same plant, same work force, for every 100 sets they had 3 defects
Buying chips that are easy to program went down hill since then...argh.
Posted by: LisaKay on September 4, 2007 05:10 AMMany managers in American companies spend more time learning (indoctrination) PC bullcrap about diversity and homo rights in the work place than good management techniques. They started the same BS in the military under Carter. We had to have group meetings where the so called "instructor" would ask you to hold hands and pretend that you were of another race. I refused and was asked to leave the class. Everyone in the class followed me except two black guys and a red head. We all were called before the Colonel but lucky for us he was from South Carolina.
Americans are the hardest workers that I've ever encountered and I've spent 26 years in different places overseas. We are the best!
Be careful Gene, apparently we proud Americans who are truthful about our awesomeness do so at our own peril. It's just a matter of time before "proud Americans" are locked up by the thought police for inciting unrest and making lefties and foreigners fell uncomfortable.
Let them thought policers come into my workroom!?
I'll bat them about the face and ears with my soldering iron and my badattitude while at the same screaming at my diverse looking neighbor kids to get off my lawn, all of this while on the phone and making a pesto or engaging in some such other productive pursuits.
Some of us are worker bees and proud of it. I happen to be a u.s. american hahahhaa