YUROP

Yeah I have spicy thoughts for them too, would be great if they tried doing a real job to see how it feels

That, and the eurozone in general.

okay, but regarding productivity: do you really buy that idea?

Because to me that would imply that greek workers are just less productive than german workers, which is why they have to work so hard.

There are a lot of other factors at play

I'm German for context. I was born into a country that was already pretty well-off economically speaking, long before I could participate. I got a great education for free. I dont work less because I'm more productive or efficient. I work less, because our country can afford better labor laws and there is a social net that catches family members who are struggling and/or have bad health. I got work at all because the german economy performs comparably well and our politicians and rich people didnt screw up this bad. At least not when our own country is concerned. Dont want to make a statement about foreign policy.

I'm working in software. Don't tell me that I'm more productive when I work in finance than when I work in social services. Because that's what the numbers show. It's just that in finance your work generates more revenue and gives you a bigger salary. That's what productivity measures. And people in many places around the world, including Southern Europe do not really care about revenues as long as they have enough to live well. That's how they end up with lower "productivity". Of course in other sectors it's not ai immediate, but it is the same. If you are a farmer and sell to your community, you're not productive. If you export to retail chains you're very productive.

I agree for the rest, but wait to see how automotive failing to reform itself will lead to much much higher unemployment in the South of Germany.

I have nothing against Germans or automotive. I have a lot against local feudals and communities that are fine with them as long as they can call themselves a working class. If your slave owner is richer than someone else's this doesn't really make you richer, you are still as dependent as a slave.

Got to have goals!

Bullshit, it was blamed on spending all the money in drinks and women:

https://www.euronews.com/2017/03/22/calls-for-eurogroup-president-jeroen-dijsselbloem-to-resign-after-drinks-and

Unfortunately, I do remember some people misbehaving in such a manner. It weren't any official statements, but there were undertones accusing them of laziness.

So working 50% distorts the data by reporting 50% of the hours?

I'm confused by your statements, but am looking at moving to Germany. Do you mean if my wife works full-time and I work full-time we'd end up being paid 50% each?

Both this and the OP seem kinda confused, honestly.

The working hours argument was never an argument in the first place, at least at the level of government policy. This chart was used to dispell some myths among the population, but it wasn't particularly new information for anybody making policy even at the time.

If anything, a frequent clarification in the impacted countries was that this shows a productivity issue in some of the Southern countries, where more hours and less output is an issue. And yes, the weight of retail and service industry jobs has an impact on that. Also, to my knowledge, this IS about actual worked hours, not contracted hours. These numbers don't match contracted hours per country, and were bandied about to explain why excess overtime damages productivity, not the other way around.

None of this had much to do with austerity, beyond promoting or dispelling some stereotypes. Austerity was about investment and public spending and was demonstrably, patently some bullshit. Dogmatic German-style (and Dutch and British, don't think I've forgotten) anti-spending policy proved itself counterproductive, useless and imprevious to facts, as the US kept cranking up investment, particularly under Democratic administrations, and outpacing European growth.

Which is not to say that Southern economies didn't need reforms for productivity and increasing employment. But those reforms weren't about cutting spending or public investment, beyond plugging the hole the housing and investment crisis left behind.

So no one in Switzerland has a part-time job?

How did you get to 41?

The chart isn't about contracted hours or official full time work week regulations, it's about effective worked hours.

It's a slightly out of context report on a partial step of how productivity and overtime are counted, from what I understand.

Yeah, that 'hours of work in main' job really does something here.

I mean the guy working three part time jobs would clock in maybe 20ish hours on the main job but maybe 60 overall.