Americans and Work: Not Getting It Right

Americans are stuck in the past where it involves work. 

By JIM PURCELL

Americans work longer than Europeans and that drives up the need for increased healthcare but for some reason -- God only knows why -- American conservatives seem dead set to allow people of limited means the absolute right to die in the street. Of course, Europeans are not struggling with this, and seem to get by fine with universal healthcare, more vacation time and a less demanding work week.

Why the United States is unable to adopt good ideas from somewhere else is as mysterious as why the Jets cannot put together a winning season without help from the divine.

Alright, let's throw a log on the fire and see how it goes: If you work more hours, you are not going to have the same quality of life as someone who works fewer hours. You will need more healthcare, and it would make at least some sense to take more time off. But, that is not the state of affairs in the United States.

Americans: The Jets of the work world?

According to an article in Forbes, by staff writer Steve Landsburg, the average American works 25 hours per week, while the average Britain works 21.5 hours per week, the average Frenchman works 18 hours per week and the average Italian works only 16.5 hours per week.

In 2013, a report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), based in Washington DC, showed the U.S. lags behind Europe badly in paid vacation time. CEPR reported that 77 percent of private sector companies in the U.S. voluntarily offered their employees some paid vacation time (to the tune of about 21 days). However, in Europe the average number of paid vacation days amounts to 34, in Austria, 31 in Italy and France, and 35 in both Germany and Spain.

Meanwhile, insofar as universal healthcare, every developed country in Western Europe has had universal healthcare in place since before the Mets won the 1969 World Series, though each nation administers it slightly differently. Some European countries have single-payer systems, such as Great Britain and Spain. Other European states, like France, have systems that are employer-based, but law compels insurance companies to adhere to strict government regulations -- unlike in America where they can do anything they want so long as they report enormous earnings every quarter for their respective boards of directors.

Why must Americans insist on doing things their own way, even if it is a total catastrophe (e.g. our public education system)? I will say this, and it is not the whole problem but at least some of it -- we have Bible bangers who come up with bizarre ideas that link Christianity (at least their version of it) to work, healthcare and insurance. And, the last time I checked, at no point did the Lord Jesus Christ bring up the merits of HMOs versus PPOs, yet still the conversation rages.

What is the rest of the problem? Well, I just do not think Americans look outside their borders much for good ideas. I believe there is a sort of nationalism about good ideas that has been ingrained in us; 'If it wasn't thought up here then it's a bad idea.' Utterly ignorant actually.

It is like there is something wrong with doing good for the greatest number of people in the United States, at least in the minds of some. And, how these people are elected is quite beyond me. Yet, they are.

America fails when it comes to not only its work hours, vacation time off, healthcare -- but also in its public education system, mass transportation and gun control. I am sure there are biblical arguments crafted by some Right Wing nut-job or other about keeping children stupid, shooting people and leaving them stranded. Now, there is a tough weekend -- someone shoots you, leaves you stranded away from mass transit and the poor person isn't educated enough to follow a map back to town. Yes, the perfect American get-away.

This is about work, though, and there doesn't seem to be any common sense on the horizon here in the Old U.S. of A. My father, God rest his soul, was a big union supporter. He and my mother were union workers for their entire careers. At some point, perhaps just to be different, I argued the point of view of business owners to him. He said if business owners had all of the power they would abuse it. He was right. He was wrong about a lot of things -- but not that.

It makes no sense how we go about work in this country. Collectively, via NAFTA, we made it a point to send all of our manufacturing and industrial jobs overseas. Then, where it involves those poor bastards of us left behind, we get the worst healthcare, working hours and vacation time in the developed world. Maybe it would sound more cheery if I compared the American status quo to China or developing countries.

Instead of building a wall along its southern border, maybe it would be more constructive to get a decent universal healthcare measure finally set (that isn't politicized beyond all get out), and do something to advocate for workers. This might be a nice flourish given the fact unions are all but dead in this country.

Other than all this, things are wonderful with the state of work in this country.