The Leisure of Europe's Middle Class

Nicely done:

Alberto Alesina, Edward Glaeser, and Bruce Sacerdote (2005), "Work and Leisure in the U.S. and Europe: Why So Different?" (Cambridge: Harvard University).

Abstract: Americans average 25.1 working hours per person in working age per week, but the Germans average 18.6 hours. The average American works 46.2 weeks per year, while the French average 40 weeks per year. Why do western Europeans work so much less than Americans? Recent work argues that these differences result from higher European tax rates, but the vast empirical labor supply literature suggests that tax rates can explain only a small amount of the differences in hours between the U.S. and Europe. Another popular view is that these differences are explained by long-standing European “culture,” but Europeans worked more than Americans as late as the 1960s.

In this paper, we argue that European labor market regulations, advocated by unions in declining European industries who argued “work less, work all” explain the bulk of the difference between the U.S. and Europe. These policies do not seem to have increased employment, but they may have had a more society-wide influence on leisure patterns because of a social multiplier where the returns to leisure increase as more people are taking longer vacations.

Comments

[anne]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/opinion/01friedman.html

Follow the Leapin' Leprechaun
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Dublin

There is a huge debate roiling in Europe today over which economic model to follow: the Franco-German shorter-workweek-six-weeks'-vacation-never-fire-anyone-but-high-unemployment social model or the less protected but more innovative, high-employment Anglo-Saxon model preferred by Britain, Ireland and Eastern Europe. It is obvious to me that the Irish-British model is the way of the future, and the only question is when Germany and France will face reality: either they become Ireland or they become museums. That is their real choice over the next few years - it's either the leprechaun way or the Louvre.

Because I am convinced of that, I am also convinced that the German and French political systems will experience real shocks in the coming years as both nations are asked to work harder and embrace either more outsourcing or more young Muslim and Eastern European immigrants to remain competitive.

As an Irish public relations executive in Dublin remarked to me: 'How would you like to be the French leader who tells the French people they have to follow Ireland?' Or even worse, Tony Blair! ...

[trostky]

The return on leisure -- now there's a concept worth spreading.

[otto]

Some of Europe's working classes have even more 'leisure' than they would wish...

[dogfacegeorge]

What does "working hours per person in working age per week" mean?

[nk]

reminds me of Ebay-

[Jean-Philippe Stijns]

"I'll bet on the offense."

We know that, Tom. How have you been feeling about Iraq lately? I am not arguing against reform but are we really supposed to embrace pro-market reform on this kind of basis? After reading this kind of essay once more, one would forgive ignorant non-economists for believing that economists are after their standards of living. And surely the English-Irish labor market and social model has no cost whatsoever:
http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/portal/page?_pageid=1996,39140985&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&screen=detailref&language=en&product=sdi_ps&root=sdi_ps/sdi_ps/sdi_ps1000
Amen!

[nk]

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC37/Hunnicut.htm

[nk]

it is eBay (not Ebay)

[Matt]

I wonder if there's a demographic factor-- the amount of vacation you get will generally increase with length of employment. So, if the workforce is younger, it will generally get less vacation.

[Cranky Observer]

"In this paper we argue". How about doing some field research? You know, getting a job as a professional or middle manager, then spending some time in US and European places of work?

If so, you would find that on average Europeans work both smarter and harder during their working hours, then when they leave the office turn off the "work" portion of their lives and turn on the "personal" portion. They generally do not carry all the cares of work home with them, nor do they spend 80-90 hours a week in the office as a substitute for a personal life. Think of the 200 lb (85 kg), in-shape male amateur golfer driving against a 120 lb (50 kg) female professional: the male will be easily 3x stronger in the weight room, and the female will easily outdrive him at the tee 9/10 times. Why? Because she uses her available muscle so much more efficeiently.

Why Europeans do in fact work so much more efficiently in the workplace would be a good thing to study, but no complex theories of preferences are needed to explain the working hours issue.

Cranky

[nk]

Working tons of hours with no vacation may be an audit red flag (see URL above)

http://www.protiviti.com/downloads/PRO/pro-us/articles/FeatureArticle_20041203.html

Thank you Professor Ziegler-
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050621/cgtu041.html?.v=16

[normansdog]

My experience of US manufacturing, even fairly high tec (not the really specialised areas like semiconductor) is that americans do spend longer at the office, but tend be less efficient than workers in similar German companies. The general level of education of the average US worker does also appear to leave something to be desired, which means that it is harder to make use of complex equipment in many US companies (US automation systems are prehistoric in comparison to those used in German manufacturing plants). The UK is sadly moving towards a highly-stressed often-sick long hours work style, due in part I think to the relatively low wages that can be earned in the service sector (excluding hedge fund management of course).

[spencer]

Don Boudreaux of Cafe Hayek claims Europeans spend their extra nonworking hours taking care of household chores and things like that because
European retailers are open fewer hours. I've asked him about sources for this information. But the ones he gave me lead nowhere.

Does anyone know anything about this?

[Barry]

This is being discussed on Crooked Timber right now; the poster doubts that Friedman is correct about Ireland.

[sm]

I'd go for the shorter work week/year.

Oh, wait, I'm an academic!

"But Swedish men spend 8.1 hours more per week working in the household, 3 hours of which are maintenance!"

Is this a good or bad thing?

How overweight are these Swedes compared to Americans?

[desmodus]

I can't help but think that abuse of the Exempt status of the Fair Labor Standards Act is making a contribution to working hours here in the US. What could be better for keeping those executive compensation packages moving upward at an exponential rate than having employees work for free? As the expression goes, America used to own it's slaves, now it just rents them.

[anne]

Though I may not be listening or looking properly, as lovely a country as I find Ireland so I have found Sweden. Ireland has grown wonderfully these last 20 years, but largey because of wonderful help from the rest of European Union and she ought not to forget this. So too look at Spain now and Spain a generation ago. But, there is Sweden. Well, Stockholm is quite a delight as far as I can tell. A stunningly stately city with all sorts of seemingly contented Swedes about few of whom give the impression of worrying about whether they can hire a plumber. So I am simply not given to Sweden bashing as feeling sorry for Swedes who do not care to be felt sorry for.

[Sarah]

Hey Jim - Maybe the reason Swedish men appear to work more in the home than American men is that the female labor force participation rate in Sweden is higher, and Swedish women are closer to pay equity than their American counterparts. That could represent not more work for less pay for men, but rather a more equitable distribution of household chores that, in America, are falling predominantly on the shoulders of women.

But even if they *are* working more hours for less, the Swedes have a lot of advantages that Americans don't -- i.e. unbelievably low crime rates, near 100% literacy, low infant mortality, healthcare available for everyone, etc etc. And since they have pretty consistently voted for the social democrats for the past, oh, 70 years or so, they must be pretty satisfied with that choice.

[nk]

is blogging more fun when more people post?

how do all of you have time to post during the day?
-do you find yourself socializing less with people around the office?
-do you find yourself spending less time in the office?
-do you find yourself working less and reading blogs more?
-something else?

[anne]

Sarah

We can be honorary Swedes :)

[piotr]

About horrors of having to work more to maintain your home, cook and to cope with short store hours.

Europeans have a surprising concept: they claim that is supporting families. For example, further extension to store hours were torpedoed in Germany with an argument that families should spend more time together!

We Americans know better. To help families, we should decrease the taxes, make it easier to build enormous family friendly houses in far-flung exurbs, have long work hours and long commuting because of that far-flang nature of housing, and let the kids fend for themselves, with the help of TV and video games. Moreover, the notions that the entire family could go away for 4 weeks of vacations is so absurd that it should not even be discussed.

[anne]

Piotr, that was nicely done :) Of course I have been known to wonder whether Whole Foods which is open each day from 8 to 9 and awfully awfully close to home and campus is really convenient enough. But, I always spend part of the day looking for birds so I am not beyond hope and help.

[Josiah Bartlett]

It raises red flags to me these days when "tax policy" is used to explain the differences in the economic performance of different countries. The usual conclusion is that high taxes = bad, low taxes = good. The result here in the US has been that the main beneficiaries of changes in tax policies have been those wealthy few that have been financing the "think tanks" that produce those studies.

[SqueakyRat]

These people who happily sum together the hours spent at the job with the ones spent around the house -- does the concept of "alienated labor" ring a bell with them?

[jml]

The Swedes spend their spare time maintaining their residential capital stock!!!!!!! Can complete social collapse be far behind!??? The effects of their social-democratic servitude is more dire than I thought!

Looking at OECD stats, we find that employment/population ratio and employment participation rates are quite a bit higher for 25-64 year olds in Sweden than the US; Sweden has slightly higher unemployment rate for those age groups, but not much higher at all.

Reverse is true for 16-24 year olds. Sweden looks much worse there. What are those Swedish kids doing? I don't remember seeing many hooligans when I was there... Maybe the social rot is starting there.

Compard to other OECD countries, Swedens employment structure has been so stable, it looks like no change at all over the last 35 years.

I remember seeing a bride walking through Upsalla before her bacherette party wearing a Dopnald Duck head, scuba fins and dragging bathtub on wheels. A modern version of some kind of tradition, she said. I also remember a young waier at a pub chew me out for trying to drink ice-tea rather than beer with my lunch. Clearly, the youth are slowly going mad having to spend so much time puttering around the house, cooking and weaving, and quietly smoldering over US drinking habits.

GDP growth/hr worked per year since beginning of 2001 US recession is 2.2 for Sweden, 2.8 for US. For 91-00 it was 2.3 and 1.7 respectively; in 80s it was 1.2 and 1.4.

That doesn't sound like the research reported at Glass' internet reference.

I've known Swedes who've complained about the long wait to move from a temp to permanent position, long time it takes to get an entry job offer of any kind when they're first starting out. Never heard anyone I've ever known who lived there complain about too much time spent puttering around the house.