May 28, 2004 11:58 AM

America – is it really the good life?
Posted by Diane Danielsonat 11:58 AM

O.K., so we lead the world in GDP (see World Bank site for complete rankings). But is it really cool to also lead the world in numbers of hours worked? One group of Americans doesn’t think so, and this led to the launch of an official holiday called “Take Back Your Time Day” (October 24, 2003). The first Take Back Your Time Day National Conference is being held next month on June 10-13th in Chicago. Check out their website for registration information and interesting tidbits like the following:

1. We're putting in longer hours on the job now than we did in the 1950s, despite promises of a coming age of leisure before the year 2000.


2. In fact, we're working more than medieval peasants did, and more than the citizens of any other industrial country.


3. Mandatory overtime is at near record levels, in spite of a recession.


4. On average, we work nearly nine full weeks (350 hours) LONGER per year than our peers in Western Europe do.


5. Working Americans average a little over two weeks of vacation per year, while Europeans average five to six weeks.

Feeling the need to personally investigate these statistics, this blogger is over here in the sunny South of France, and yep, I seem to be the only one actually working. (I guess you can take the girl out of America, but you can’t take America out of the girl!) If you don’t hear from me for a while, it probably means that I’ve adopted the European definition of the “good life!” A bientot

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