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Europe has known this for many many years. A 35 hour work-week and several weeks of vacation time (e.g. in France and The Netherlands) not only creates more jo

Europe has known this for many many years. A 35 hour work-week and several weeks of vacation time (e.g. in France and The Netherlands) not only creates more jobs, but also results in happier people and additional productivity.

jeffdavis 14y ago
I'm having trouble finding support for your assertion. Some quick googling seems to indicate that France has a higher unemployment rate than the US and lower GDP per capita. Same for Spain. Same for the EU overall. The Netherlands seems to be in better shape but it's a much smaller economy, so it's not really comparable.
- roel_v 14y ago
  The Netherlands doesn't have significantly more vacation days than other EU countries. Looking at this table: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922052.html http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922052.html it seems that we're even on the low side, since the legal minimum is 21 but most people get a few more, so I estimate the average at around 25. Which would put us at the same amount as Japan, of all places. (The link's methodology isn't explained though, and maybe it includes public holidays, which would boost .nl with something like 10 days into the same magnitude as Germany and France)
  - TylerE 14y ago
    Would be interesting to see numbers of time actually taken. It is my understanding that in Japan it isn't unusual for an employee to not take so much as a sick day for years - and don't even mention vacation. The corporate culture is so "dedicated" that's it's really unhealthy.
sjg007 14y ago
What are these jobs in France you speak of?
JoeAltmaier 14y ago
Wow. SO now Europe is a hotbed of productivity? Not the image I call up when I think of overseas Engineers I have worked with (American talking here). I've had a hard time getting anything out of Japanese, French, German colleagues. Everybody wants to manage the process; nobody wants to actually do the process.
notlisted 14y ago
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lab_wor_tim_mor_tha_40_hou-time-more-than-40-hours http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lab_wor_tim_mor_tha_40_hou... http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/life-satisfaction/ http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/life-satisfaction/

jeffdavis 14y ago

I'm having trouble finding support for your assertion. Some quick googling seems to indicate that France has a higher unemployment rate than the US and lower GDP per capita. Same for Spain. Same for the EU overall. The Netherlands seems to be in better shape but it's a much smaller economy, so it's not really comparable.

roel_v 14y ago
The Netherlands doesn't have significantly more vacation days than other EU countries. Looking at this table: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922052.html http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922052.html it seems that we're even on the low side, since the legal minimum is 21 but most people get a few more, so I estimate the average at around 25. Which would put us at the same amount as Japan, of all places. (The link's methodology isn't explained though, and maybe it includes public holidays, which would boost .nl with something like 10 days into the same magnitude as Germany and France)
- TylerE 14y ago
  Would be interesting to see numbers of time actually taken. It is my understanding that in Japan it isn't unusual for an employee to not take so much as a sick day for years - and don't even mention vacation. The corporate culture is so "dedicated" that's it's really unhealthy.

sjg007 14y ago

What are these jobs in France you speak of?

JoeAltmaier 14y ago

Wow. SO now Europe is a hotbed of productivity? Not the image I call up when I think of overseas Engineers I have worked with (American talking here). I've had a hard time getting anything out of Japanese, French, German colleagues. Everybody wants to manage the process; nobody wants to actually do the process.

notlisted 14y ago

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lab_wor_tim_mor_tha_40_hou-time-more-than-40-hours http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lab_wor_tim_mor_tha_40_hou... http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/life-satisfaction/ http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/life-satisfaction/