Why is Working Harder Making Us Poorer?
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- čas přidán 16. 09. 2020
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Workers today are amongst the hardest worked individuals in history, while simultaneously being the most efficient.
Sure, they have traded in grueling factory floors and coal mines for air-conditioned offices so they probably don’t get quite as much sympathy as their industrial revolution contemporaries but the world today is marred by different challenges.
Hustle culture and the glorification of roles like surgeons, investment bankers, and corporate lawyers have set a precedent of on-call all the time, under the guise of professionalism or being a team player.
Expectations and key performance indicators are increasingly monitored, scrutinized, and increased year on year.
Now the discussion around overworking is not a new one, but it tends to focus on the mental health implications of this reality rather than the economic impacts.
Now we are going to be leaving that aspect of this discussion to the side for this video and instead focus just on the economics of the overworked world.
Partially this is because there are many people far more qualified to talk about mental health and partially because well, sometimes for things to get changed it needs to make economic sense for them to be changed.
So the health implications of 100 hour weeks aside, we really only need to answer one question.
Does working longer and harder make for a more prosperous economy?
#HustleCulture #Recession #Economics
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Where can I get that keyboard with the colored keys?
Please do a review of the hidden secrets of money series by Mike Maloney
czcams.com/video/DyV0OfU3-FU/video.html
Japan is a good example. They work harder than any other developed country but they are less happy with less free time for vacation and recreation.
Can you explain what lezhaire is?
Does Acorns also provide its services in Europe? And more importantly does it work with European bank accounts?
You don’t get paid according to how hard you work. You get paid according to how hard you are to replace.
🤔
There's a checkbox, either written on in the head of every person giving a raise. "Is this person filling a key role for our organisation?"
Meaning humans are reduced to just tools of production.
Dude. Nailed it.
Bullseye! Very well said!
In the US, if you meet all your goals early, employers will just give you more to do.
Amen to that. Total BS.
Very true. American workers are quietly rebelling against this by becoming less efficiency driven and doing only what they must to make it through the day. In that sense the US economy mirrors many of the ones in the rest of the Americas rather than Europe.
Absolutely. This is why I don't apply myself at work. I do exactly as little as I can get away with because I know that if I ever needed anything form my employer they would turn their back on me quicker than you could blink. Unless I'm being paid 6+ figures a year, a job is simply a means to an end for me. I tried working hard (at work) when I was younger. It didn't do much for me, so now I work hard at personal developement instead.
And you never see an extra dime for you additionally completed work. So what's the point?
Yea. sigh
Back in the day 40 hour work week meant living a comfortable life providing an education and future for your children and retiring by 55... now 40 hour work week means barely surviving.
@Mark S Currently I'm working at the local mill in my home town. My grandfather worked here for 30 years, had great pay, benefits, and even got a nice pension when he retired. Today I work the same job for a measly $17 with mediocre benefits at best and no pension whatsoever. All while housing prices are at the highest they've ever been and living expenses continue to increase due to out of control inflation due to out of control printing of currency. A "better job" won't cut it. Especially when this same job 50 years ago would have been considered a "better job".
Do you not see the inherent unsustainability in that loop or the fact that if everyone "gets a better job" then alot of wage slave work will go undone like with what we're seeing now in the current "labor shortage"?
@Mark S I just landed a job that does but that doesn't change the fact that jobs that used to be more than enough to thrive now barely get you by. That was my entire point.
@@geekychannel2543 exactly!!! I cannot stand these generic, unimaginative answers of ‘just get a better job’. It’s asinine.
i like how he ignored the labor movement of the early 20th century as the cause for american prosperity and the 40 hr work week.
Grandpa: Worked a 40 hour work week, received full health, dental, and eye doctor insurance, owned a 5 bed 3 bath house and drove 2 cadillacs, retired age 55 to a gold watch, a fat pension.
Dad: Worked 50 hour work week, owned a 3 bedroom house and drove a ford, received partial health, no eye or dental, got a supermarket cake when he retired at age 67 with a 401k
Me: 60 hour work week, No health plan, can hardly afford rent and groceries, 2001 honda civic just died for good so no car, will be lucky if social security still exists when I retire at 75.
At this rate my kids will work 18 hour days in a sweatshop, live in mud huts and die at 40.
You wish your kids could have it that nice. Now be grateful to the captains of industry and feel fortunate they're giving you a job. After all, if they didnt, there are no other humans out there who would establish a similar industry.
Puleeze, with the fantasies.
Grandpa worked a 60 hour week till 1935, rented in the Bronx, worked till age 73. Died 1961, glad he took care of his wife, had 4 children and raised 6.
Why go out of your way to avoid telling us what jobs they actually worked?
did your grandparents have the computer and digital software to type this up on? Did your father ford and your grandpa’s cadillac have air conditioning… i mean forget that did ur grandpa’s cadillac even have a seatbelt? Did your grandpa have a modern understanding of health to have a healthier diet? Did your dad and grandpa even know about pollution and climate change? We are living in the most prosperous era of human history.
@@hasan1618 No, they also didn't have every detail of their life tracked by a hundred untouchable corporations and government entities, They actually DID have a healthier diet as food quality has been steadily dropping since the 80's, and they could see a doctor without going bankrupt.
Literally every "improvement" you've mentioned has come with severe drawbacks and major complications that far eclipse the original intended benifits.
I'm working two jobs, so I have a lot of money. Not because I earn a lot, but because I don't have free time to spend the money.
It's funny, a while back I got a second job on the weekends so I can get some extra cash for a holiday but in the end I saved up more from not partying on the weekends rather than just working extra.
A penny saved it a penny earned, pass that down to your kids
Put it jn bitcoin
@@marcoAKAjoe that's what you fools have been saying for 10 years +
Earn time
"Putting in extra hours is not seen as a commitment to your work, but as a sign of inefficiency"
That is the most german thing I've ever heard
Japan is the opposite of Germany in that regard.
@c carville Not in a lot of European countries. My cousin arrives and leaves on the dot, youngest ever and youngest female in her rank for the Ministry of Interior. They beg her to take more work, they will pay a lot.
However: tax for work at her level is about 60%. There is 0 incentive to work more. And same story for many companies needing top level managers, very hard to find them, they all leave or have left. Nobody is going to spend 1 more minute then they need to on the job, not 1 second. Overwork yes, but only if you are in a lower paid position, and no way for normal base salary.
Probably cuz they pay for overtime
"If being upset helped then I would be upset." -Chancellor Merkel when asked why she didn't seem more empathetic or upset at how many people were suffering from the pandemic.
I think I'd make a good German.
It's still 60 hours per week! Anyone with a full time job in 2021 knows companies are squeezing their employees to death, with endless additional workload, to the point people are quitting in droves. Good luck.
Especially in today’s world they think people want to work when automation is taking over and no one will be able to work 😂💀🙄🤦♂️
The great resignation yet continues…
Overwork to the point of breaking down is not sustainable. That’s why a lot of people are quitting in droves to do something else or just to smell the roses.
If someone is working 40 hours a week, they should be able to live on their own and be self-sufficient, but this is far from the case. Most people's production drops off after 6 hours of work in a day and anything after that is garbage time. To worsen this, there are employers who think if they give people raises and pay them "well" that the worker will work less hours. So you have workers who are overworked and underpaid with no benefits and employers who don't want to give people decent pay because they think the worker will show up for work less often.
No one cares about your own wellbeing more than yourself. If people only ask if you are "well" when you can't do THEM a favor, they don't really care about you and are only interested in when you will become available.
Virtually all of these problems come from GOVERNMENT/CENTRAL BANK POLICY, in America at least. But I would wager they're the same sources in developed countries. The only useful government intervention was establishing the 5-day 40 hour work week, which I believe needs to be changed to 4 days, 10 hours a day, or less. It would be interesting to see some productivity/efficiency studies on a 4/10work week. But things like a "minimum wage" set by bureaucrats, "social security" tax, "unemployment tax", etc etc, are all the problem. But the biggest problems are relentless currency devaluation and an utterly USELESS "education system".
@@cavaleer People's productivity massively decrease after working for 6 hours, so I seriously doubt a 4/10 work week would actually be better than what we have now. Minimum wages are fine, they ensure workers have enough money to be able to pay for goods and services. But yeah, currency devaluation is a massive problem but it's entirely because how much Americans hate taxes, and so instead of taxing people on their income, the government is forced to just print more money and disguise the fact it's hurting people far more than an income tax would behind the fact that it's "not a tax".
@@cavaleer dude, you just complained about Government policy, then supported what businesses called the most overreaching government policy in limiting hours and days lol. I am Pro-Labor, your comment was just weird lol
profit takes up all slack, it powers the slavery treadmill.
"there are employers who think if they give people raises and pay them "well" that the worker will work less hours."
- Nah they say that as an excuse to be a total cheapskate.
It's sad that "retirement" is the only thing people actually look forward to. Imagine thinking "I'm gonna give all my best, healthiest years working 60-80 hour weeks so that when I'm a geriatric I can finally relax and enjoy life." There's no enjoying life with alzheimer's, arthritis, and adult diapers on. This thinking is always gonna be backwards and no amount of societal propaganda will change that.
This is too true,
You're very right and it's a sad world we've found ourselves. No wonder many are unhappy.
Remember that when you are 50 years old thats just half of your life, and, being broke while you are old will not be a great experience.
I've been told "Millennials will never get to retire" so many times that it made me reflect on this question. If you have to work for the rest of your days, what job will least make you hate your life?
@@ShieldSniper Actually, 50 years are 2/3 of your life.
"Some of you watching may be able to remember a time when shops were not open on Sundays ..."
Me, watching from Norway: "Ahh, yes, I remember that time. It was this Sunday."
Unless it's some sort of nærbutikk somewhere in the heart of Oslo
I remember when I was a child in the 1980s that stores either were closed on Sundays or closed at or around 1200, no exceptions. I remember driving with my family and seeing the shops and restaurants closed and no one around. Then when I became older I noticed more and more businesses stayed open to make more profit.
@@suttone75 I was born December of 1983 and experienced the same. Now there is always something open (24 hour Walmart and Kroger) I live in Atlanta OTP. I really miss the time when everything was at least closed one day a week, Christmas, etc. That’s why I love Chic fil a!!! I would rather plan more carefully; than have everything open 24/7.
Ah yes - Europe
We need that "socialism" here in the US
Some companies are so caught up in consumer centric ideologies that the consumers don't even have the opportunity to be less demanding. I wish there was a way to tell UPS, FedEx, and USPS that its OKAY you don't have to deliver to me on Saturdays. Monday-Friday is perfectly fine. If I REALLY need something urgently, I can go to a local store. There's no option for that however.
YES!!! I don't HAVE to have my Amazon package within 24 hours.
Problem is because of companies like Amazon outside of very dense major cities those local stores don't exist anymore
I have worked for logistics companies in the very idea that a customer has to have a package within under a day is completely absurd. Unless it’s a vital organ or life-saving piece of technology a customer can wait a few days. It’s ironic because America complains about entitlements then goes and makes customers the most entitled childish ignoramuses on earth
Not to mention that this mentality leads to dangerous practices that people may not even consider.
For example: A delivery company marks how well an employee does by how many deliveries they make in a day and how fast, thus in turn, leads to said employee being encouraged to drive recklessly, speeding, illegal U-turns or cutting through a gas station just so they don't have to wait for a red light, or trying to beat a yellow only to end up running a red light.
Or at the warehouse, if being faster=more money$$$ then "why can't you load more onto that forklift? - What do you mean it can't carry more than 2 tons!? I want you to carry and move 3 tons at a time! Also, no more bathroom breaks!" Because it's not like things like bladder infections are painful or peeing yourself and having it run down your leg and onto the work floor isn't sanitary or anything.
This 100%!!!! I feel bad for the delivery people who need to meet their quota.
About consumers having no time spending their money: Japan really struggles with that. People there work so much they don't have time to actually go out and spent any money they earnt. It went to such an extend that the governed added an extra free day once a month for families to go out and shop.
I would imagine that would make shopping on that day pretty unpleasant right? Crowds and whatnot.
I've supposedly heard that Japan's issues stem from cultural pressure rather than necessity. You probably could get away with healthy work hours just fine if you don't mind being seen as lazy.
@@viperblitz11 japan have many good cultures but that one is just straight up toxic, they need to value their health and time more
gacha is quite a good money burner
@@viperblitz11 Yeah, like being economic and technological powerhouse.
"A customer is seen as an equal and not put on a pedestal"
What a beautiful concept.
It is almost as they are both humans.^^
Ironically, the first company to put the customer on a pedestal would then begin to outcompete the other competitors. Human nature is just cruddy
@@stevencooper4422 Exactly what happened with Amazon in France.
@@stevencooper4422 Not necessarily. Walmart tried to implement this in Germany in the 90s, but they weren't successful in the slightest and soon thereafter disappeared completely. People really didn't like the idea.
As someone who has always worked in customer service in the US (retail, nonprofit work, IT support, etc) I find this a foreign concept... How do I make this happen? lol
Even when I go on vacation it is constantly people complaining as to why I am not there, and it is like... guys! other people are covering support right now, it's not like I am leaving you high and dry!
Two clarifications for Germany from a German:
1. The lower tertiary education rate is in part due to a special system over in Germany. E.g. to open a carpenters shop one must have been supervised by a registered carpenter for about 5 years and also completed a series of official exams, and then be registered at the central craftsmen registry service. This leads to many people having some kind of further education that is not correctly recognized by international statistics.
2. Germany, probably more than every other country in Europe and most wealthy nations around the world, is a rather decentralized nation. There are hundreds of small (10.000-100.000 Inhabitants) cities connected by a net of former villages and now suburbs. And many of the smaller businesses (100-200 Employees) are situated around those cities near the suburbs. Therefore, the length and the need to commute might (overall) be lower here than elsewhere.
Also, thank you for showing me that Germany can be a positive example. Living here and mostly being confronted with just the problems we have around here, sometimes makes me feel like Germany is way worse than it really is (compared to others).
I've taken to reading German newspapers recently, & I've got to say, y'all have very high standards for yourselves. I saw one article a few weeks ago talking about the danger of a growing QAnon presence in Germany. They said that Germany was experiencing extremely high numbers of QAnon followers at a couple hundred thousand known throughout the nation, which was hilarious to me because in the US we've got tens of millions of those folks running around.
If I were in Germany, the only thing I'd be concerned about (regarding the nation as a whole) is the strength of the EU & its ability to form unified foreign policy. Without sacrificing the values that have made Europe succeed, you want the continent to be independent & united enough to stand up to both the US & China as that conflict heats up.
Other than that, I'd say Germany is doing just fine.
What issues do you see in Germany?
I've luckily visited Germany and some other 30 countries around the world, and I've done my research on work-life balance, salaries, cost of life of most countries. My conclusion is that at the moment the best place for living and working is Germany, despite the bad weather ;) greetings from a Colombian in Mexico.
albertigno1129 Canadian winters are fun
@@benjaminanderson2028 I heard so haha. The coldest I've been was walking near the Brandenburg Tor in Berlin, at -3°C, without gloves coz I never used them before in my life haha, wanted to die... Can't imagine Canada.
In the US, whenever I hear about government reports saying that worker productivity has increased, the underlying message it tells me: _Employers are ratcheting up the demands of the employees, which could be having three employees do the work of five or six._
Something interesting that was pointed out on another video I recently watched is that the wealthy bragging about working constantly is really a wealth flex, because the average person cannot possibly work 80+ hour work weeks without their entire lives falling apart. They can't afford to hire full time child care, cleaning services, cooks, assistants, CPAs, drivers, etc. that would enable them work 12 hour days 7 days a week. People saying that anyone can be as wealthy as CEOs by working their insane hours are being utterly unrealistic, not only because most people simply cannot work that much without having a mental breakdown but because they cannot afford to hire people to do everything else that needs to be done in their lives. I know for me if I don't do a certain amount of cleaning, organizing and cooking around the house it becomes a nightmare. Not to mention needing time for things like registering my car, taking it to get maintenance and repairs, attending family events, shopping for items I need, etc.
I read an ariticle last year that Japan had to crack down on short term car rental companies because office workers were renting the cars to sleep in instead of paying rent for apartments because the apartments were considered a wasted investment cause they don't do much more than sleep in them in the first place. So why pay for a place to live in if you don't even live in it even if you can afford it?
Women used to be in the background doing all these things. Now marriages don't last like they used to or women are also working, or both. The support structure at home for one spouse to dedicate to just making money is nonexistent.
@@ktvalor9401 most peoplecant do that like i was gonna say ok husbands can do that but like esp if youhave a kid you cant afford to have someone at home even though that makes sense bc well u got a kid to look after but yeah
@@ktvalor9401 In the wealthier classes SAHM is much more common even if they have nannies. The wife runs the social life with planned parties, charities etc where a lot of deal making gets done.
Of course wealthly not going to give good adviсes, because it means giving possible competitor advantages. It is a lot better to misinform and make sure adviсes hurt possible competitor.
When i first started working 12 hr rotating shifts at an oil refinery lab, where 60hr weeks were normal and 80hr weeks were uncommon but still happened, my financially minded family and i had a common back and forth.
"Are you remembering to save your money"
"No, but i have no time to spend it!"
Ah jeez 12 hour shifts sounds like a nightmare.
DON,T WORRY THEY WILL FIND A WAY TO TAKE IT BACK FROM YOU EVEN THOUGH YOU LABOURED HARD FOR IT.
O YA IT CALL SLAVERY
@@alephkasai9384 it´s doable but the first weeks are hard,
I worked at a plastics factory, operating and troubleshooting automated assembly robots. 12 hour shifts every day. Weeks rotated 3-4-3-4. It wasn't the hardest job, but the mental stress of "machines can't ever go down!" really broke me.
There are plenty of "team bonding exercises" in Germany. It is a codeword for drinking during workhours :D
So true :D cheers from Berlin!
Fridays work stopped at 16.00 and the wine came uncorked
I see that I need to move to Germany... but like, how is the racism over there?
@@jennifernabrahamable There is a lot of guys with small mustaches you need to watch out for in Germany. (Not a problem in Germany very tolerant people, maybe too much so)
@@jennifernabrahamable In Western Europe we assure you that we're not racist before and/or after making a racist remark, which makes it alright... Right?
One thing that always strikes me as stupid is that retailers increase their hours but never shift them. If everybody is working 9-5 instead of increasing it's hours from 9-5 to 9-9 so shoppers can shop after work and dinner, they could instead shift their hours to 12-8 - there aren't many people shopping on the way to work so it's seems wasteful to insist on opening early.
I used to work in a shop that opened at 7am. First parts delivery of the day didn't arrive til 9:30.
I used to work in a retail shop and I remember thinking that the first hour was free money (the shop opened at 7 AM) because I was paid to just sit and do almost nothing since there were maybe 10 customers tops during that time.
I'm in Canada where a lot of stores are open late, but in terms of shifts, retail employees cannot be convinced to say with their jobs unless they get 8-4 or 9-5 type of hours. So the store hires a surplus of students and immigrants to work evenings and weekends for less than 30 hours a week while sacrificing all their availability to the company. In turn, the part timers do not make enough to pay the bills, so they constantly leave and get replaced causing continuous training and rehiring waves throughout the year. Thats why stores don't stay open late, it just causes more problems than sales are worth the hassle of.
I have thought the same, besides not everyone wants to wake up 7 am or earlier to get to work. People have different lifestyles, some don't want to have kids and family, some like to wake up late, others early, some like to work longer and take longer breaks. It doesn't mean they are overworked, just their preferences are different.
@@davecullins1606 Definitely not free. Technically you're only being paid for your time. Not your labor. You earned every bit of that hourly wage because you gave an hour of your life to them. And an individual's time is not a renewable resource
When you work so hard you set the new benchmark as the expectation for everyone else, but gain very little from it.
That turns other workers against you because they are now being compared to you. I remember i used to work at Walmart and would be on time every day even in the snow. I lived about 5 miles away and walked to work everyday. Nothing like a manager telling your coworkers that who drive to work and live 15 minutes away.
Where I live in Europe, almost everything is closed on Sunday. Even restaurants. And the customers is definitely not always right. If you complain they will tell you to get out.
Exactly this, and I'm originally from a country with the opposite of this true so it's very unusual for me.
Good trade-off, i think
Where in europe?
Must be nice here in Texas the “customer is always right”.
sounds like Germany or Scandinavia. Definitely not southern Europe by the description.
"Why is Working Harder Making Us Poorer"
Me, an unemployed individual: *"interesting"*
Hey, in many EU countries the social welfare is higher than minimum income (after deducting tax etc), so in a way it still checks out
I am not in the least bit feeling attacked
@@Bronek0990 you still need to contribute to the welfare system otherwise you had no business there.
I'm in a weird limbo where i should be working, bit i haven't started yet
Some people are working too much, while others not working enough.
simple, you are not being compensated for your work. you work harder, the company makes more money but they dont pay your extra based on how much extra work you do. they keep all the profits.
the more you make the more they rake
In exchange you get the relative stability of the paycheck and nice bonuses. You can always try freelancing and default on your mortgage when two clients leave in one day with zero notice.
One of the first things I ask in an interview: "Does this company have a good work-life balance?" They always say yes, and they're rarely being honest
I've been thinking to instead ask the interviewing manager "how do you spend your lunch?" If they say oh I barely have time I eat fast at my desk its a red flag. Means they're a workaholic and will expect same from you.
"How will I spend my time in this position?"
There's no such thing as work life balance
On the tertiary education factoid: usually every craft, vocation except the most menial labor in Germany HAS a 2.5-3.5 year apprenticeship phase. So instead of a irrelevant college degree you get job-specific training, while going to school half the time (dual education system).
Fake Name came here to second this. In many cases you earn faster and More! with getting a job with a good apprenticeship rather than doing a degree first.
That seems to be a great system. You can work towards a stable job before or while getting more education that can be spent on learning what one is really passionate about and not so job centric
Same goes for Switzerland and Austria !
That is more efficient I mean everybody is not wealthy some people need to get right to work they don't have the luxury of killing four years of time in a university. My belief is that vocational training should start in the Jr. high or 7th grade right on through high school that way you are good and ready when you leave high school to go to work or to Jr. college if you want to get a real certification in the field...America's president had a show called the Apprentice yet we didn't catch on to the concept...go figure
How it should be in Australia but we are dumb and not like that as much.
My best friend took his own life, at least partially due to years of working 60-80 hour, labor-intensive weeks
Sorry to hear that.
Zachary Eversole me too,
We worked for that employer together for a few months, but I quit to go to college and he stayed for years. 💔 it was a job that took a huge toll but payed just as well 🤕
Sorry for your loss bro 💔
I suspect this happens more than people realise. I spent a sizable chunk of my adult life running the Silicon Valley gauntlet, and while I do miss the money, I'm so much healthier and happier now, and my relationships are much better. I'm pretty sure it was horrific for the mental health of a lot of people I worked with, too, like it was for your mate. More recently, I co-founded a software business and just paid people hourly. I'm convinced we got a LOT more value out of each hour worked than a company that pays a salary (i.e. expects people to work many hours for free, in the US)… our developers probably worked about 25h/week on average, and hey, they had time for entrepreneurship, or family, or study, or just living… so when they were at the keyboard, they were sharp and ready to go. Anyhow, I'm really sorry to hear about your friend, mate. I imagine this was a hard vid for you to watch.
My parents back in the day worked 40 hours weeks and had a good life.
Here I am, studying and working after college. In the vacations I'm pulling off 60 hours weeks. Barely surviving.
Love our progress as a society!
Yes but exactly what are you spending that money on?
hope you arent buying a lot of trash.
@@thatundeadlegacy2985 utility, transport,food,home bill,any other equipment.
@@thatundeadlegacy2985 Always the response--if you weren't wasting all that money on Avocado Toast...
I wish this video touched on the supply and cost of labour. If you have a workforce thats doing a lot of unpaid overtime, e.g. 60 hours per week, then every 2 people are doing the labour of 3. That increases competition amongst, and reduces the value, of labour. So if people were able to say no to doing unpaid overtime (good luck in Australia, it is often expected), then businesses would need to fork out for additional labour - driving up demand for labour and driving up wages. In essence, working harder and not being compensated is making workers poorer in a micro and a macro sense.
Yes! I live in the US, I'm a kiwi, and I have a coworker who works unpaid overtime all the time - answering emails in the middle of the night. He devalues all our labour. It drives me mad!
I was born and brought up in Dubai, and this is a huge problem all over the Middle East. People say that they use slave labour and while that obviously isn't true, they are overworked and put in very bad working conditions simply because the countries don't give out permanent residency or citizenship, so everyone needs to work to stay, which means that there are always thousands of people competing for the same few jobs.
If you complain about being overworked, your boss will just fire you and hire an Indian to do your same job for cheaper. People put up with horrifying conditions because they know it's even worse back home. At least here, only one person will suffer, but he can send money back home to greatly improve the living conditions for his family, and if he has any family in the Middle East, they will have a much better chance at getting a proper education and have a higher standard of living and can hopefully migrate to a better country like the US, UK, Canada, Australia etc.
"You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt."
Sing Tennessee Ernie Ford!!!😏
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
Great song
Never has a truer song ever been sung. If this wasn't the standard mark of how businesses do business, I would be inclined to say this song was ahead of it's time. Sadly, it's the standard quo.
Haha, they play this song sometimes at my work.
I know this girl in Spain, and she told me that she doesn't understand why Americans are so obsessed with overworking. She said people in her country value family and leisure over wealth.
My family is Italian and its the same way there. Lots of people are home from work by lunch.
Spain is also broke so. Not really the best model to copy.
@@williamstriker2299 Yeah Germany was a far better example
The US is an expansive place.
@@danielcorrigan8805 Italian here, spending time with family much better
lol here in New Zealand, 90% of shops still shut at 5pm (6pm at the very latest), a third close all weekend and only a few are open for a full Sunday.
Never understood why we didn't adopt the Japanese approach, shops open until 9pm or later but that don't open until midday or so. Makes sense, same hours but you're also open when your customers are actually able to buy from you.
Kia Ora
Kia Ora bro. are you being facitious?? :) If businesses adopt a midday to 9pm set of hours for the sake of customers , its employees would have to work those hours.
9:55 Funny you mention that. In Poland our goverment signed a bill that delegalizes retail on Sundays, which was to please cashiers and general store workers - we have a lot low economy class people in Poland. Quickly after that some franchise shops started getting in cooperation with polish mail to be a national post office. These are the only shops except gas stations that are open on Sundays. Recently a big brand of supermarkets seeing what the small franchise shops did, got a contract with national mail to be also a part of post offices so they can be open on Sundays. So it's illegal to do retail on Sunday by law, but also the same law allows gigantic brands to be open on Sunday because they have a contract with the country. Welcome to Poland.
Love your picture profile lol
In Canada, the post office is closed Sunday. Do that.
Woooow... that went well, I gues..
Thank you for sharing.
@@beyondwhatisknown Hey, you're welcome to come here and help me vote it through ;)
Lech Walesa convinced everyone in every little district in Poland to go on strike so Russia would get out. Then all the other satellite copied and ended the Soviet Union. Maybe everyone in Poland will go on strike until either the Post Office closes on Sunday, or otherwise no stores get to stay open just because they've got a post office desk? That would make things fair. So, that's the plan. Pick a deadline for the new rules, write the new laws up in legal form, distribute it to every neighbourhood representative who explains it to every single resident, and have a deadline for action. If the laws aren't changed by then, everyone sits down and the country grinds to a halt.
"A lot of million dollar ideas are lost because people don't have the time to make it a reality"
don't have time or don't have money
Deep
that is pretty dumb
@@alf3071 both. dont have time because they spend two thirds of their time working to get the money they dont have
Or they just aren't willing to pay the price
Millions of individuals hold jobs that trap them in a cycle of working hard while still unable to get ahead, which leaves them with little hope for economic mobility.
Such people working poor have a strong work ethic, put in long hours, and believe that hard work can pay off.
overwhelming that majority believes that people are more likely to fall from the middle class rather than rise into it.
I feel every market is profit worthy, this is know for a fact. People should should learn to be diversified in all aspects of life.
@@ethisrising7130 investing for a living has really given life an essence, most people see it as a hobby or a means of passive earning and it comes out well for most People. I'm glad I went against the odds, sometimes it's a tough decision. But it's all good, at least I can still go into the market yet again with Paul Helfer.
Mason poulsen be careful with trading, yes you can make money doing it but more people fail than succed. investing especially dividend investing can create much more wealth long term if you're under 30. if you're older and just starting, trading might be your best bet. But do a lot of research. best of luck to you.
As an Operations Manager a year ago, I put in 60 hours a week in plant and spent another 5-10 hours a week answering emails and phone calls. I had barely had time for myself and my family, which created a divorce
Surely you earned at least 3x the salary of the average worker in the company .
@@MrCatalin090 Surely you understand by the tone of this message that all that money is almost worthless if he can't spend it with those he love.
You're part of the problem if you're willing to sell your soul and hurt your loved ones for material compensation, specially so after Jeff's cautionary tale.
@@granudisimo money is worthless when you have too much , with nothing use it on .
@@MrCatalin090 Seems I failed to the sarcasm in your first reply.
@@granudisimo People really need to get their priorities straight. And you won't do that if you're eternally working
EE: If a customer facing business tried to be closed on Sunday today, they would be driven out by more flexible competition
Chick-fil-A: hehehe we'll see about that
They are a “religious” corporation. Not closed because they actually care about their workers
@@mikeharrison2831 a majority of their workers are not totally religious there are tons of Christian companies that work on sundays.
They treat their employees humanely why do you think their so hospitable small things like no work on sundays adds up
@@mikeharrison2831 Without a bit of research I'm going to assume that the only reason Sunday was ever an off day to begin with is rooted in religion, or more specifically the sabbath.
@@mikeharrison2831 No, Chick-fil-A has Sundays off because when the restaurant was first started it was run by just two brothers in two 9 hour shifts 6 days a week. They needed a day off, and Sunday just happened to be the most convenient and practical since yes, they were religious, and also because all their family had it off as well. They kept it going forward because they saw no good reason to change it and work people harder.
Chick-fil-A is not a Christian organization. They are an organization that happens to be run by Christians. The religion is not a core aspect of the business.
@@NiGHTSnoob
They care about the chicken, and the employees as well, but the chicken is first
"Working late is not a sign of commitment it's a sign of indecency..."
Gotta love the Germans, they got this down.
First comment
Video : *uploaded 30 seconds ago*
This comment : *37 minutes ago*
Hey Economics Explained, A Small Video Request:
Please make a video on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Economic Policies. I am in quite a dilemma about him and really need help in that regard. Moreover, It would be quite a good video for your channel too.
look at japan and their weird hentai, doujins they produce
Some remarks here: The reason why Germany so few people in tertiary education is that we have a quite different secondary education in central Europe in General. We have the concept of "Lehre" where you start your training in your future workplace in the age of 15 to become a professional with the age of 18. This has a very long tradition (several hundred years) and is often more efficient to get a job, because in the tertiary sector you don't necessarily earn that much more and with a grade as a "Geselle" (which losely translates to bachelor) or if you go deeper in your profession and become "Meister" (translates to master (do we see a pattern here)) you can be directly employed in many jobs without geting into the matter, because you already have the practical training. In many of the countries with higher tertiary education, you have a lot of people, who are not well prepared to do practical work. And furthermore if you are good in your work field you can earn quite a lot of money. There are also more modern job fields available today like mechatronics or semiconducter workers. This much bigger secondary education sector allows us in Europe to maintain free university, because in may cases it does not pay so well of than going directly at a good job with secondary education.
In Germany, working overtime isn’t viewed as dedication. It’s viewed as inefficiency 🤯🤯🤯 I’m learning so much from this channel 😭🙌🏽🎊💚
Germany ageing population is worse than japan in reality. Their data looks good because influx of immigrants.
You might want to expand your channel education. Economics explained does talk about some things but he is insistent on ignoring other realities. For instance, Germany and Industrial Age United States had extremely strong unions and these were the biggest cause of improvements in worker welfare. But curiously, he didn't even mention the word Union. Additionally, his analysis is almost always devoid of any discussion of race even when it is impossible to not talk about it without being intellectually dishonest.
@@jasonwilkins1969 Most people I hear comparing America to Europe and stuff seem to totally ignore those two things, especially race. I know they don't want to step on that landmine, but it needs to be addressed because it played a very massive role in so much of how America was shaped and still continues to be run. And unions were also extremely important as well. Change wasn't made by some company owner having a heart, it had to be fought and rioted for.
@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley well said, you can't talk about wealth in United States without talking about race considering that 10% of all land of the United States which is given away and a program that was exclusively available to white people, housing discrimination and mortgage discrimination with baked in from the start, and slavery was instrumental in creating the lack of access to wealth.
Part of why needs to be taught in schools
@@jasonwilkins1969 "devoid of any discussion of race"
Germany do like racing, they build race cars, but it's not as important as other types of cars hence why he wouldn't have mentioned it.
This is essentially why I put in minimum effort at work while putting my energy into said hustle culture and my own personal business. The extra efforts I put in actually generate a return for me that way. If employers read and want to mitigate this, they can consider setting generous bonuses for exceeding KPIs
‼️🎯
In case of Denmark and Sweden and Finland, its also a matter of culture. Finland in particular is a very "Do it yourself"-type of country, where service-free buffets are the most popular restaurants, shoppers put their groceries on their bags on their own and every single gas station is self-service one. "Uusavuttomuus" or "Neo-helplessness" is openly scorned where relying too much on service people to do basic menial tasks for you is considered to be a sign of laziness or learned helplessness caused by pampering. Best example is our current president who mows the lawns and cleans the snow from his own yard by himself, despite being the president.
I worked in Norway and Germany where I was told “we work for a living, we do not live to work”. Ten years later I’ve returned to the UK and I’m working part time to ease myself back in the working culture but I’m struggling to re-adjust. I was financially and better off in these countries and had a better lifestyle, I’m now reconsidering my options.
May I ask why you went back to the UK?
@@bigpumpkin49 Family ties.
@@lk1590 Awh, that's one of the hardest choices a person could make :/ Hope You'll be happy either way
"I was financially and better off in these countries"
You was financially better in Germany vs UK? Unless you were making 50% in Germany than you are in the UK their vicious personal income tax would have made you much worse off financially.
@@channul4887
looking at the numbers, the real squeeze on personal income tax between the UK and germany sits between about € 20,000 and € 40,000, mainly because germany employs a geometrically progressive income tax above ~10k and below ~60k while the UK's is strictly tiered. though it doesn't seem terribly vicious - paying a 27% income tax isn't exactly a huge problem compared to a 20% income tax if you're in a position perhaps making more money for less hours worked. (germans make similar gross ammial income income while working about 300 hours less on average than UK citizens)
statistically, the two economies are very comparable and the person's individual situation and cultural difference probably has a lot more bearing on their economic experiences in the two countries than the national economy or national policies
included for your benefit:
**Germany's personal income tax rates:**
income of 0 through 9744 € = 0%
income over 9744 and below 57,928 € = geometrically progressive rates from 14%-42%
income over 57,928 € = 42%-45%
**The UK's personal income tax rates:**
Income of 0 through 12,570 £ (10,684 €) = 0%
Income of 12,571 through 50,270 £ (42,730 €) = 20%
income of 50,270 through 150,000 £ (127,500 €) = 40%
income over 150,000 £ = 45%
In Germany, a company with more than 2000 employees must have workers (a union rep) represent 50% of the board of directors. That might be a clue as to why workers get more control over lives back.
Which is why I am a market socialist.
I want the economy to be based around democratic syndicates and co-ops, which have no boss and are entirely run and governed by its workers, rather than private workplaces which are ruled by unelected CEOs who benefit from cutting wages and busting unions.
At the same time, the free market should stick around because planned economies are cringe.
I want democracy in the government, AND the workplace.
@Sasha Da Masta COMMUNISM REEEEEEE!
@Juan Pablo Grajales Canseco No matter what system we have,, the rich will always have power.
@Juan Pablo Grajales Canseco Fairly sure your wealth inequality ratings are much lower than those in places like America and the UK though.
Wealth inequality as such isn't something that needs to be eliminated outright...
But there does come a point when it's clearly having a bad effect on society...
About time to make that 100%
Am I the only person who would give up a lot to get out of this 40 hour a week hamster wheel?
Then what are you doing right now so you can quit your job 5, 10 years from now?
@@gorgefood9867 complain and hope someone else changes the world to make things better for me
Just get a remote job and move to a 2nd tier city in Vietnam, the ones were you only need scooters to get around.
With the world being as connected now more than ever you don’t need to have a fortune to live a meaningful life. All that’s required is a laptop and internet access and anywhere in the world is your office. We can now save the commute time and do something that actually makes us happy.
@@Khaab00 that's nonsense
I can relate to the advantages of being judged by performance rather than hours sitting in a chair. I once took a job at a pharmaceutical research company (Covance in Princeton, NJ) where I was criticized for taking a walk break to stretch my legs after consistently getting work done fast and for arriving to work 5 minutes late due to bad traffic after a 45 minute commute. They eventually fired me for it and lost a productive worker because the manager didn't have the patience or skill to use productivity metrics.
Does anyone else feel stressed out that they aren't relaxing hard enough in their free time?
not gonna lie I feel stressed out that im not working more during my free time.
Yes. Always. To the point where I've forgotten what it means to be relaxed. I can no longer relax. When I lost my job and decided to just "live life" for a month as I had plenty of cash, my stress levels were practically identical. I was losing my mind trying to understand what the problem was. I'm pretty sure it's an environment thing so moving is high on my priority list after this pandemic.
Here's the thing I've found works the best. At least 15 mins (preferably closer to 30 mins) of aerobic exercise near max effort (for the intended target length of time) followed by an ice cold shower immediately followed by taking a nap. You don't even have to go into napping mode, just lay down and close your eyes for 20-30 mins. Yeah it absolutely sucks, but I feel way more calm and relaxed afterwards for a couple hours. It's a serene feeling I had straight up forgotten from my childhood days.
YOU BET YOUR WASHING BEAR COMMENT!
@@LiveType Thanks for the tips. This is a huge problem for me. My time to relax is limited, so I feel a lot of pressure to relax, which is itself stressful and ruins any chance of relaxation. I hope I can find a routine that's a bit more palatable than yours.
@@j.s.7335 Haha, yeah. The key thing is you need to heat up and then very rapidly cool yourself. I think just the cooling part is the most important but being hotter makes it more tolerable. The exercise is more a side effect that floods your brain in endorphins which feels nice. The rapid cooling forces an autonomous reaction, cold shock, which immediately calms you down and increases alertness. The heat makes the process a little more tolerable from what I've found. The nap then forces some brain functions to occur which then result in even more calming. What they are I'm not sure but it works.
Saying Germans are less educated isn‘t true.
Germany as well as Switzerland has very robust apprenticeships (in Switzerland typically 3 or 4 years) which do not count as tertiary education.
So we don‘t need to go to college for everything that requires even the smallest bit of training and additional education, we can use our apprenticeships for that purpose.
Measuring tertiary education just isn‘t a very useful statistics if the education up tp that point is so different between countries.
Apprenticeships are OP; you get education, work experience and you get paid for the hours you work while your company pays for your education.
I think tertiary education is good measure of education. But the applicability of an education is a huge factor in its productivity.
In the US is very common for a college to work WELL outside their field of study. That is because our education system provides practically no guidance on what will be productive. So people will pick up a lot of education they will never use in their career.
TC IronBear I absolutely agree with you. Not trying to be political, but a society in which everyone is college educated does not mean a better society per say. ( a lot of people advocating for free college would say that, and I’m not completely against it in theory, but practically it’s a lot harder to do). What I find here is that people love to reference the good things about European societies which appeal to their ideologies, but Ignore everything else that is also beneficial but contrary to their beliefs (like Frances reliance on nuclear power, Denmark’s strict immigration rules, and Germany’s low rate of people attending tertiary education) I think EE has made a video about the college topic some time before
Yup, not a useful statistic. In the UK so called degree apprenticeships are just being introduced again. However, contrary to the "Berufsschulen", a lot of universities are running them and it's not a dual system to the degree it is in DE, but I might be wrong. Not sure if those would count as tertiary education. Then some degrees such as nursing are university degrees here in the UK, whereas they would be apprenticeships in DE, if I'm not mistaken, but nurses are probably learning pretty much the same on both sides of the canal. So the distinction is somewhat arbitrary.
@@jonathanalvarez3875 "low" rate. The thing is you can get a official diploma of the same worth as a masters without ever going to university. Also degrees at universities are much more specialised from the get go, you don't pick your major after you attended college for some time.
You have no idea how good working to task completion vs working to x time sounds as someone who thrives on being able to see an end in sight, and work towards it vs. knowing no matter how hard I work, no matter what I do, the end is completely outside my control. It is legitimately demotivating knowing that working harder only means I'm working harder. Not more money, not more free time (which is the important one for me), but just to look good for people actively trying to reimburse me as little as possible.
Having worked in both systems (Germany and Canada), I can say that all the free time I had in Europe made me a more alert, relaxed and productive employee. Edit ~ it also made us very hardworking. Nobody would dare take a health day unless you were really sick. If you were caught out (as one employee was), the shame he felt from the judgement in his co-workers eyes cannot have been worth it. Snow put the underground and the trains out of commission in London one year and I still spent 4 hours, trying to get to work. I had a delirious fever from tonsillitis and when I woke up, I ran out into the street in my pjs mumbling about having to get to work. We paid them back for the time off
You can see this reflected in the public school system in the U.S. as well. We send our kids to class 6+ hours a day and then they go home and spend another 2 or more hours on homework. Once they get to the age of twelve-ish we cut out regular recess breaks. We obsess over test scores more than the well being of our citizens and when funding requires cutting programs we cut things like physical education and music first because those aren't monetarily exploitable skills (except for the very few). All so that these corporations can make a few extra bucks down the road. We think we're the most amazing nation on the earth but I think those of us that can get our noses out of the production reports can see the writing is on the wall.
My youngest sister is a kindergarten and they literally send her home with 20 pages of HW a week 😭😂😂 like thats a lot pages of math and writing to do when you've only just learned the alphabet possibly that very same day lol.
Some is good ☝️ but not that much 😂
Edit: there are also much more useful and fun ways to help children practice math and literacy skills without doing worksheets 🤷♂️🤷♂️
The american school system is mostly childcare. Make no mistake. Some of the best educated countries spent 1/2 the time in school. There is no such thing as PE in Germany for example.
For highschool they gave me 3 extra classes. My school day started at 6am and ended 5pm. They also forgot to schedule my lunch period for my entire class. Our biology teacher felt bad and allowed us to bring lunch in her class and eat. By senior year I had given up but had enough credits to graduate anyway from them overworking me
That is not living at all. so sad
@@arain764niara wait you just garnered credits in the US, rather than completing the curriculum to graduate high school?
15:45 (German here) I worked in the restaurant industry for a short while, before settling on my current career, and tbh, I never understood the motto "The customer is always right". The average customer is clueless, with a fair share of them being utter idiots. That is what I am there for. Get them informed and paired up with that they need and might want. And if an idiot customer gets snippy with me, my supervisor will sort him out. But there is no gushing over every fart of the customer, like they are royalty.
Man customer service seems so much nicer to work in than Germany. Usually if your supervisor in the US gets involved it's to punish the employee not deal with the customer.
Makes a lot of sense actually. Reminds me of how it's hard to know you want something until you see it
@@ChaosTherum To be fair, if I made a mistake, my supervisors didn't hesitate to take me to the side and 1-on-1 give me a talking to (though I was never talked down to or received what I deemed to be unfair reprimands), but on the other hand, my supervisors also had no issues telling the guest very politely why they were wrong and how we'd do things instead, if unreasonable guests appeared.
@@gunnarherzog5538 Every once in a while you'll get a supervisor that will stand against the customer for you but it's rare.
American customers aren't just buying the food, they're buying an experience.
..And the experience is superiority.
This is why I refuse salaried positions.
If I am off the clock, my work phone is off. If there is an emergency, one person has my personal line, and it's my direct superior.
I live in Germany and yes, we have high taxes. But we also get liveable wages in most cases and pretty good health care. Not the best, but pretty good healtcare. Public transportation and education is top notch and our Public services is one of the best of the world. A 36 to 40 hour week is pretty much the standard and in many companies they'll send you earlier home if you finish your work and companies desperately try to avoid overtime. And MANDATORY MATERNITY LEAVE up to 3 years depending on situation for father and mother. Oh and MANDATORY VACATION. Your boss will even harass you if you don't take your vacation days. And Team bonding training is usually a casual work day with drinking, partying or doing genuinely fun activities like paint ball, amusement park, pub crawling, rafting, go kart or just hanging out in a park for a beer and BBQ.
"A customer is seen as an equal and not put on a pedestal"
*Karens:* Wait, that's illegal
The aspect of this is the existence of modified and regulated markets. This is especially apparent in pharmacy and drinks industries where barmen and pharmacists can elect not to serve all comers what they want. Also applies to firearms and many other restricted goods and services. The truism that the customer is always right is not universally true. Also applies to transport and housing and banking and many other sectors. It is probably the biggest legend in the US way of life.
In Germany the customer still is king.
Luckily we have a strong jacobine tradition.
@Deez Nuts 'Karen' is the embodiment of every human with the behaviors we ascribe to her, not a real person, or group of people. From that angle, it really is just Karens. Even the ones that aren't full-Karen.
@108johnny My friend works in a German supermarket and he absolutely loves it when entitled customers demand to see his manager because 95% of the time it's going to be them who are going to get chewed out instead.
Hellothere _1 Here close to Hamburg my friends manager at Rewe will usually do what even the most stupid customer asks, maybe because of der Schlaue gibt nach...
Also makes them go away. Depends on the personality/company I guess
If working hard could ever make anyone financially rich then i guess all slaves would be the richest people around.
😳
well people shouldnt be paid based on how hard they work rather the market demand for their work
Talvez!
@@zhaow4832 That's called Capitalism
@@zhaow4832 If the market decide how much you get. You will need 10 jobs 🤣
Farming and marginal returns to labor: Good farmers have better incomes that poor farmers. Good farmers spend more time and effort maintaining their equipment and buildings, upgrading their land and monitoring/thinking-about how to improve their operations. No, they don't draw a wage for an 'extra' hour spent on their operations, but they do have returns for that extra hour.
This is the reason why I don't apply to to companies anymore. They see you as expendable but they expect you to work hard for not a lot of money. I also hate the long hours. It's so unproductive to make you work for 8 hours a day for not a lot of work that can be done in less time.
I read an article about a surf board shop in California who used to be open and work 24 hours a day. The CEO noticed his employees weren’t very happy or necessarily healthy.
Long story short- after some bumps in the road, they went from running 24 hours a day to just six hours and the companies productivity and revenue went up.
Turns out when employees are happy they work better. Mind blowing concept I know. America is killing itself and many of the issues stem from working too much.
When I studied abroad in Vienna - where most of the businesses close no later than 8 PM and nearly everything is closed on Sundays, I was always confused why there weren't more 24/7 convenience stores, etc... It isn't until now that I realized it's because their government respects workers and their time-off, and put rules in place to curb market tendencies for longer hours.
No one there ever complained about not being able to work at 11 PM and no one complained about not being able to open shop on Sundays, it was just my warped American perspective thinking that there was a problem in-need of an American solution.
Thanks for the perspective.
From my experience living in Sweden and Finland stores being open everyday hasn't really been controversial or that people wished Sundays were closed and I don't think one would claim Sweden and Finland don't respect their workers, being the stereotypical paragon countries
@stockart whiteman As someone who used to work at Taco Bell until the wee hours of the morning, it would sometimes get ridiculously busy at 1AM.
If those shifts didn't make money, they wouldn't run them.
I like working second shift. I would complain about not being able to work at 11 PM.
Your warped view is actually in thinking that the Government should have a say in a person working when they want to or an employer offering a shift at the time of their choosing.
@@Crowbar11115 That's the Austrians warped view, not mine... Each has its pluses and minuses I guess, and no approach is perfect. That said, where you see big government, I see an effort to enact a more human-oriented approach to capitalism at the institutional level, and that the Viennese are generally satisfied with this way of life because the government upholds its end of the social contract as well - and people like Mirza can become Uber drivers (etc.) if they personally want an extra source of Sunday/Nighttime income.
I really got a culture shock when you talked about shopping on sundays😂 I live in a german village. 10 years ago you couldn‘t buy stuff on Saturday afternoon, Sunday and for some shops Monday (especially bakery’s as they were open on Sunday till noon, so they got a free day of their own).
I have a burning question for you. Throughout my short career, I have worked several jobs in the natural resources/agriculture/horticulture industry, and I'm currently employed by the NRCS. Despite having a fair amount of education on the topic, as well as reading a lot in my spare time, I have never come across a satisfying explanation for the following question:
Why can farmers not break even?
If we all need food to live, why is every single type of farm in the US supported through loans, dependent on off farm income (read second job or working spouse) or on the verge of going bankrupt? How can the one commodity that literally everyone needs to survive not command prices that support its production? If anybody in the comments knows, please tell me, also, it's been bugging me for years.
Canada, and many other countries, don't subsidize their farmers the way the US government does. They've got a weird, messed up system. That's the main reason. Canada has marketing boards to keep the supply low, never have unnecessary surplusses of perishables, keeping farm income high, and no costly unnecessary competition. It works. We pay more for food. The Americans hate it. Then love it. Then hate it. Then love it. Etc. That's the answer to your problem: Marketing boards.
Simple. Farmers don't get profit and get short end of the stick instead, with intermediary agencies making a killing. Difference between farmer supplied raw material and final product is over order of magnitude in price....
Roxanne, forget the other two replies.
Farmers is the U.S. earn an average salary of $78,440 per year, $37.71 per hour. The average yearly salary in the U.S. is $53,490, or $29.81 per hour.
What the farmers pay themselves in salaries are just a Tony percentage of what they make in sales/turnover.
Farming is capital intensive, so in a way, a lot of the would be profits or would be salaries, is re-invested in more land and machinery.
Most farmers are millionaires in assets but, cash intensivene businesses equals poor liquidity, in cash, not assets though.
The average farmer has a Net oirth of $1,7 million. The median is $2,8 million. For comparison, the average Americans net worth is $121,760.
FARMERS ARE VERY RICH. And your assumption was faulty.
because farmers buy raw materials at retail cost, sell products at wholesale costs and pay for the shipping both when buying raw materials and selling their products.
If you don’t open on Sunday competitors will drive you out of business
“Laughs in chick-fil-a”
in belgium, and i think a big part of western europe,
shops open on sundays is still more the exception,
but with a clear rising trend.
in most places supermarkets and such are not allowed to be a full 24/7 open,
so a supermarket that does a sunday morning opening, normally only opens after noon the monday after.
the real discounter don't bother, while the supermarkets that are a bit more expensive can use sunday reveneu to stay profitable. Sunday work has to be paid at least 50% extra, that also helps not exagerate it ;)
most towns do have once a moth a buying sunday, when most of the shops are open, but most sundays they still are closed.
@@JeroenJA lucky youy the extra for Sunday work on shops has been removed years ago in the UK.
Big supermarkets stopped paying it around 2007
Fight the good fight and never select next-day shipping.
Or the undercoat on a car 😂
We have next-day shipping in Germany.
It's easily doable, just less cost effective for Amazon because they need to hire more people to remain compliant with worker protection laws.
@@Krawurxus Interesting. Thanks for the insight. 👍
@@Krawurxus Exactly. If Amazon had the system they currently have, but tried to do it morally (that is to say, have any consideration for workers at all), then Jeffrey "ma name Jeff" Bezos would never be able to go to space xD
@@nob2243 Well see that's the thing. He'd still be able to go to space. It might just have taken him a couple of years more. It's not a question of having rich people or not having rich people. It's a question of making the rich _slightly less_ rich so that everyone else don't have to become increasingly poor. And yet a lot of people act like compensating people fairly for their work and demanding that the rich pay their taxes like everyone else would somehow spell the end for rich people, when the reality is that they just wouldn't be as rich as they used to be. They'd still make massive ammounts of money and earn way more than the vast majority of people on the planet. They'd still be rich, just not _as_ rich.
It's sad because it's all just based on bullshit and fearmongering, and people lap it up anyway like a kitten laps up milk.
Just like government debt, it’s counter intuitive. The excellent podcast “Pick me up I’m Scared” discusses the 4/20/69 work week in the US. 4 days, 20 hours max per week and $69 per hour and how this would increase both productivity and profitability on a national scale. Even to me it sounds impossible to achieve, yet it is more efficient than our current system. It’s like my mind has been so conditioned by what is, it is almost impossible to imagine what could be, even though rationally I know it is feasible.
Corporate sponsored propaganda in our media is very effective at creating this condition.
The fact is that we should have much shorter days for people whose productivity isn't tied to their hours cranking on the job, and they'd be a lot more efficient.
How would any of that actually work?
I believe that the story about Germany omits a massive factor: functioning unions. Not only do unions protect workers' time; functioning apprenticeships are worth more than tertiary education to develop skilled labor.
This is why the birthrate is plummeting and everyone I seen just doesn't care anymore.
That and the modern hook up culture, unchecked hypergamy and people prioritizing themselves over having a family.
birth rates aren't much higher in Germany
That, and lower real wages, and uncertainty about the future environmental situation.
It’s good in some ways, if sad. We’re naturally recognising it’s unsustainable and overpopulation is a big issue
too tired too care, got work tomorrow :(
@@rustikreign9798 not bad, nor good, just the reason for plummeting birthrates, and we need the global population to drop to 300-500 million and be well spread evenly across the globe in livable areas.
“Adding hours to the working day without actually adding hours to the working day.“
I see what u did there.
Story of my life... watching this video at work lol
The actual quote is more like "adding hours to the working day without actually adding hours to the working daaay.“
“Adding hours to the working day without actually adding hours to the working pay.“ There. Fix'd.
Adding hours to your working day, you just don't get paid for it.
Simple enough.
Exploit even more.
It hits hard because I travel over 3 hours just traveling to and from my job.
As a farmer the best picture I can paint is that for 8 months out of the year I work 6am to 7pm every day, but each day's tasks are split in 2, one is the regular stuff, milking, normal chores, feeding cattle ect., stuff done atleast once but normally twice a day. The other category is the "farming type work" picture it like a to-do list that never gets shorter, the only reason we work as hard as we do, is because if we put the "to do list" off for a week there would be a snowball of issues, oh, that broken board, I'll deal with it tomorrow, then you walk out to the barn half asleep with a cup of coffee at 5:45am and for some reason there's 130 cows standing in your yard looking at you. If issues aren't handled as quick as possible, then the issues begin to compound. That's why we work like that, it comes down to getting as much stuff done in a day, be it tractor driving, working with wood, plumbing, electrical stuff or a "project" the more done in a day the less issues that thing breaking is going to cause further down the line.
Makes sense to me. Sucks, but that's life
I was thinking about this all day at work, always working harder only gets me the reward of more work for the same pay. Then I see some of the laziest people being promoted to spend most their time walking around and avoiding any hard work.
The way Germany views working habits is not only refreshing. It is inspiring.
and quit toxic when you actually have to endure them
@@holzteppichverleger How so?
@@Ermude10 Are you german?
@@holzteppichverleger I'm not. I'm just curious to why you think it's toxic. Would want to know more about it and hear some different views.
@@Ermude10 It's basically the same grind as everywhere else, slaving away 9 to 10 hours a day... and also get ready for the occasional "Arbeit macht Frei" or "Jedem das seine" jokes.. if you don't know what those mean, google them
I found the explanation about the german work system just perfect. I lived in Germany for 6 years as a student and could observe exactly what is explained in this video: Germans are very strictly engaged during working hours, but "Feierabend ist Feierabend" (happy hour is happy hour). The beneficial consequences of that kind of culture is very well elucidated in the video. Many thanks!
True, but you also have a whole month dedicated to beer. And that definitely resets the year LOL
What you didnt mention is that actually productivity per person has increased so much, that a 10h work week would already be possible. The thing is only, that those profits have been hald back from the masses and been siphoned off by the richest 10 and 1%.
I also used to believe in the productivity vs wage gap myth, before I knew better.
In 1973, the social security act became public law. Adjusted for benefits, pensions, medicare, social security tax, the wage gap vs productivity doesnt exist.
It simply means that instead off getting paid in $ money, as we used to before 1973. A larger and larger chunk of our salary is instead getting paid in the form of medicare, social security, pensions etc. which are paid by the employer.
Correct for THE added benefits and the two curves; productivity and wages align perfectly.
And look at the productivity and wage gap curve, and see they start to seperate from 1973 onwards.
The 40 hour salaried/hourly work week has always bothered me. It promotes laziness and complacency. To me it makes no sense that one worker can complete tasks twice as fast as the next guy yet they both still make the same hourly wage and work the same hours. I’m typically a fast worker and always found myself frustrated that I’m working faster than others and not getting paid more. I firmly believe you should be compensated based on the work that is put in and I have switched to a career where I can make my own hours and decide to work as much or as little as I wish and I would never go back.
What do you work, may I ask?
Shops in America are open on sundadys? Here in norway, the standard is that even local webstores only process your order come monday.
In Sweden, we have been open on Sundays for about 10 years. So it's pretty new. But online stores do not normally work on weekends.
Here in Germany forcing people to work on sundays is illegal in most businesses.
@@niklasmolen4753 Also not all stores here in Sweden open on Sunday. The majority of big ones do, but quite a few small ones don't.
@@KytexEdits
You are right. Only national and international stores are open on Sundays.
is there a way to apply as citizen there? efficiency in my country is just really bad
Here in Colombia most people work like 12 hours a day and earn no more than 500 bucks a month
Yeah it's an unfortunate reality, we actually explore this here in the video. Hope you enjoy!
Yea okay but it's also possible to get an apartment for $200-300 a month in Colombia. About half your income to rent is also common in the EU these days. Not saying there is no more poverty, because there is. Just pointing out that prices are a lot different as well. Also, a work day in the EU for example is much more densely packed with work for instance. (on average) So a 8hr day in the EU may equal to 12hr in Colombia in actual effort put in. In the eu that does result in a bit more free time though.
@@0xszander0 I get your point but, even if it is true that you can get SOME stuff pretty cheaply over here, income is still income. We get pretty bad interest rates from banks (which in turn makes it harder to business to do business but that's another problem), importing products is crazy expensive, travel for most people is unthinkable, etc. I am lucky to be part of the "Colombian elite" that gets to study abroad but, for most people its harsh, especially when it comes to consumer spending.
@@AndyQuinteroM Oh yeah i'm definitely not denying you have much less opportunity over there. A part of my family is Colombian so i'm pretty close to the fire so to say. Just wanted to offer some perspective to an otherwise black and white comment.
@@0xszander0 Yes and no, here in Colombia more than 50% of the population don't have access to a minimum wage, also said apartments that you can pay rent for have very, very poor life conditions, and many zones, even inside of big cities can have regular problems with electricity or access to clean water
I need to say the amount of hours a farmer puts in does effect their yield. Farming isn’t just putting seed in the ground and waiting. You can do that but suffer greatly. Putting hours in killing weeds to making sure the most moisture is in the ground before and during the growth stage can double yields at a minimum.
economists are some of the most over-appreciated professionals in the world and farmers are some of the most undervalued. Farmers need to read, maintain their tools, amend nutrients as needed, etc. in order to make a good harvest. farmers have to have a working knowledge of diesel mechanics, astrology, horticulture, carpentry, first aid, veterinary and accountant, sometimes all in the same day.
@@Pistolita221 Astrology? Don't you mean meteorology?
@@SoWhat1221 I meant astronomy but meteorology would have been better than astrology.
Actually, planting and cutting hay according to the phase of the moon does affect growth rate and crop yield. That's astrology.
On the flip side, a farmer could work 70 hours a week for a year and still have a drought bring productivity down to zero.
May I add that in the U.S. alot of potential entrepreneurs never pursue the path due to the cost of medical care and the lack of child care. The insurance is the only reason I have stayed at my dead end job. It pays so little I can't even use the insurance.
I was a farmer. I am now a lawyer. The first thought I had after I got my first paycheck as a lawyer was
"this is the easiest money I have ever made."
I transitioned from retail to a graphic design office job. I had exactly the same feeling! "You mean I just got paid double what I did running up and down stairs dealing with customers for sitting at a computer making pretty pictures and generally having a good time at it?!"
Just make sure you keep up your fitness. Desk jobs are reeeeeeally bad for your health. I quit my hospital job when I was getting fat and was seeing parients telling me how they went to college and gained 60 pounds behind their new desk, had knee replacements and can't hunt anymore. I'm still fat though.
Especially since farmers now are forced into debt by GMO companies
You think your job is easy. Become a security guard, by far the easiest job I have ever had. Cons is one day I may have to use my weapon, and it will probably be one of the worst days of my life.
@Danny Bowen Aright, and when society collapses, as it eventually always does there'll be mass starvation because those crops are all sterile.
I like that you addressed the main point of inefficiency regarding work. "Work" is not just 8 hours, 5 day and you're done. From my experience, that would be awesome. There's another 2-4 hours of not strictly speaking "work" but is still required and not paid or really taken notice of. That's half of your time that goes unpaid and you can't really utilize it super effectively on other things.
Yes its really good he mentioned it. I have had this discusion with friends many times. They couldnt grasp why i moved to a small city for a 20-30% pay decrease when my work week in the capital would look like: 2 hours commute 9 hours at the office + unpaid overtime was common. About an average of 60hours to work. When i moved it became 8:30 hours at the office 10 min commute and no overtime. Also the lower rent and walking to work lowered my expenses 20% so i had pretty much the same money left over. They kept saying but in the capital are all the big companies where you can grow there are only small companies in this city. Jokes on them the extra time i had gave me the oportunity to start a small office myself in my off time and now i make 2-3x what my same profession friends in the capital. Also when the pandemic came i lost my main job but my small office remained more or less busy so i still made good money while they were scrambling to stay afloat.
It's 4 AM right now & I've just finished a day that began the previous day at 8 AM, & I've still no clue how secure my job will be next year.
Modern life sucks.
This video is so incredibly well made. The knowledge of so many different subjects needed to put this together, the efficiency of every sentence used, the innate understanding and accuracy of explainimg economics on a macro level! Straight to patreon we go
A few days ago I searched something along the lines of "the world would be better if robots did all the work" and I came across articles talking about how people were scared of jobs being replaced and that people like to work. To that I say if we were able to replace most, or even every worker with a robot, then we could have the same productivity with much more leisure time. People would be allowed the time and motivation to work on the things they are passionate about, which would likely still result in innovation. If people like to work, then they could work on passions instead of working for corporate slave lords.
Doesn't pay the bills. Only so many foam vegetables with googly eyes you can sell on etsy before you need welfare.
@@briannadickson2884 The cost of goods would plummet if the labour was cut out of prices however. If you combined universal basic income, price regulation to enforce companies not charging labor that they're not actually paying, and massive automation.
Subsidize green energy efforts and you could effectively cut out large utility bills. The means to do it are there, however we seem to be stuck in this hussle ideology where if you're not making money on EVERYTHING YOU DO, then what you're doing is worthless. Which is leading runaway corporations to slash pay in comparison to rising prices if regulation didn't force them to.
if that happens on a global scale, then of course people will not have to work anymore, maybe some who would be in control of the robot force, people will be wondering what they gonna do if they are not working to earn money anymore, well, you will finally begin to truly live, after all, we all live under the illusory idea that we work to keep the gears running and to have food in our mouths, but that only happens when that food is taken away from you, we pretend that everything has value, that everything has a limit so we gotta work for it, when in fact, we could have everything handed to each other in less than a second if only we truly cared about each other, but no, we make things harder for ourselves, but as the user above says, the idea has been put into us for so long that we believe that being productive and working for a living is the only way to exist, we work because food is taken away from us under an illusory value, not because we really have to.
"I don't make enough money, I think I need to work more."
"Fine, here is your personal ticket for the race to the bottom."
The most useful life advice you can get is still that from Squidward Tentacles: "We do this for 40 years and then we die".
@Alexander Supertramp it's a fact
50 years now 😅
@@sharoncox1734 will be 60 when im done. But for real, were groomed to sit at a desk 8 hours a day 5 days a week, from a very young age. And the only way seemingly to get out of the deathloop is to work even harder and than have it worse for a period of time to later have it a bit better than the rest, when most of the life has already passed.
if you're lucky, most people will not live to that age without medical.
There's a whole issue that you just avoid throughout your video. Basically, when you make things more efficient they do not send you home early and pay you the same. They find other stuff for you to do so they need fewer workers to pay which results in fewer people being paid. Or conversely, more things being available to be produced. This explains a whole lot of why things are overall cheaper in terms of our buying power today
The answer is very simple: we are on the treadmill that powers the escalator the privileged ride up at their leisure. You can get ahead on a treadmill by running faster than everyone else, but when everyone else also runs faster, the treadmill just goes faster -- and the escalator it powers, of course.
@@nocontextgonzalo Yes. And...??
"The German workforce is uneducated, only 1/3 have completed tertiary education"
German craftsmen + apprenticeship system: Allow us to introduce ourselves
Little tertiary education,
Thriving and modern economy
"Now that's the power of German engineering"
@P Schlösser How do you view the apprenticeship system? I myself feel quite partial to it, as someone who knows you and your abilities is much better able to grade you than some exam; but then I don't know because I'm not German!
@@mikkykyluc5804 But then the ones who grade you don't have the same grading criteria among themselves, while one exam do have the same standard for everyone in order to sort people by competence.
@@onwun4292 I suppose that's true, though it's something you might be able to amend by creating a culture of striving for excellence.
The decline of labour unions is probably a huge factor in the increase of working hours. It’s criminal how much productivity has gone up while wages have stagnated
Two questions I ask whenever this point is brought up:
* How much of that productivity is because of the worker (thus, how easy/hard they are to replace) and not the increasingly-automated tech they use?
* How much as the population increased alongside wages and productivity? (The larger the population available for work, the lower the wages, even with an increase in productivity).
@Der Gorghast if labor unions are monopolistic than company owners have to be even more so. Why is that monopoly okay?
@@DBArtsCreators Productivity is a measure on a per worker basis, so an increase in population will not increase the productivity. The US labor market produces 240% the output that it did in the 1970s * and yet wages have remained essentially stagnant after accounting for inflation.
* www.epi.org/publication/understanding-the-historic-divergence-between-productivity-and-a-typical-workers-pay-why-it-matters-and-why-its-real/
@@treyshaffer
And so you ignore what I wrote (or couldn't read it; youtube has been hiding chunks of comments lately).
I said that the higher the population is, the lower the wages will be. This is because there is more competition for the job, which means lower wages can be offered (as some people will be willing to take a hit to their pay if it means they get the job). It is the same as how prices at stores (or for services) goes down when there are more of them competing with each other.
Also remember that, again, most of the increased productivity isn't coming from the workers - it is coming from the automation and other tech.
@@DBArtsCreators The work force has become far more educated and specialized, so that is where a lot of the productivity has been realized. Also, regardless of where the higher productivity is coming from, the people should still have higher wages as a result of it. Why should the only people who benefit from automation be the people who own all the factories, as opposed to the ones who are working in them? And let's remember, the workers are the ones who are using the technology and creating the robots.
When the ratio of corporate managers income to line worker income rushes to 100 to 1 there is a lack of respect for sweat equities contribution . It's not that tough to send an email whilst it's a lot tougher to implement the email in hours of effort.
The first two minutes of this video basically described my plan to try to do good in this world: trying to convince the wealthy owners of the economy to do the right thing, not because it is the right thing to do, but because it is in their own economic self-interest. You correctly point out that things likely won't change, no matter how much it may benefit consumers or workers, until there is an economic incentive for "capital" a.k.a. the owners to change them. History has proven that capital isn't swayed to do the right thing based on morality or humanity, however there are often reasons to do the right thing that are entirely rooted in self-interest. That is where I come in, convincing those with the power to change things that maintaining "business as usual" will cost them in the long-term; that said, since many in the business world are focused on short-term, quarterly gains, it is somewhat of an uphill battle, but if you can get them thinking long-term, the evidence is usually there that they would benefit from doing right by their fellow humans and the planet that sustains us. Or, if I can't convince them that doing the right thing will profit them, at least convince them that doing the wrong thing will cost them.
Capitalism, especially the US version of it, is established upon and thrives upon amoral greed. Companies are legally required to maximize profits for shareholders, so morality really isn't even allowed to factor into their decision-making. However, just because they can't let "it might hurt people or the planet" stop them from making a profit, they can let "if it hurts people or the planet, the bad PR and decreased sales will hurt out profits" stop them. We can try to make the world better for people and the planet, without using the argument that capital should do it just because it is better for people and the planet- we have to be able to make the argument that what is good for people and the planet is also good for their profit motive.
This seams quite reasonable. I enjoyed reading your comment
Exactly this. I want to show it to the game industry by example
I think a key piece you missed in why/how the German work model works is the Workers council. I've seen the same thing in The Netherlands, whose economic system is similar. The workers have much more power to set the terms of their working environment because they have a say in the system. If you ignore the power of workers to influence decision making, you are missing a big reason for why people in different countries work harder.
The decline in (or historical lack of) influence of the labor unions and worker bargaining in the US and other capitalist countries is important part of why people in those countries are working longer, more efficiently, with less job security and stagnated wages.
So... WE MUST SEIZE THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION!!!
Unions in America are notoriously corrupt and power hungry often being associated with political parties or criminal enterprise. The union that overlooked Holland shipping literally sucked it dry and basically ran the company into the poor state it is in today. Not to mention many industry union force workers to join them and bargain on their behalf with no input. Airline unions come to mind for that one. This resulted in "right to work laws" in many american states
@@Flyingclam Unions in the US have a long, sordid history of suppression and violence enacted against them. First bombing on US Soil was against coal miners striking for rights.
Police Unions are corrupted though.
@@boygenius538_8 bUt ThAtS cOmMuNiSoM
@@Flyingclam Unions aren't the answer imo but I will say those problems stem partly from them being regional or national unions
Do “The Economics of Hustle Culture in Young College Students” next
bump
The first thought that crossed my mind, "I hate hustle culture".
A great video idea, I hope EE does it.
You expect college to teach you the difference between information (memorization) and knowledge (craft)?
twitter.com/beco/status/717112009385357316
Up
RISE AND GRIND BABY LETS GET THAT BREAD
Not mentioned is:
1. the fact that workers wages have flatlined the last 40 years - all the benefits of technology have accrued to the capitalists (1%) rather than the workers ….
2. Productive jobs have been replaced by more ‘BS’ jobs such as marketing and sales - the purpose of these jobs is to attract more of the share of the pie to the 1% needling their rate of return rather than producing anything useful for society.
3. A UBI is the way to address this issue - it’s effectively a payout to all of the technology dividend captured by the 1% and will mean people will not need to work so much in order to survive …employers will have to pay workers more, reduce the BS jobs and further automate the unpleasant jobs …
Could it also have something to do with the modern wealth disparity? I think I remember reading it's much larger in the united states than anywhere else in the world/history. I think it could have a lot to do with expected profit and disregard to the worker. This is why people need to unionize and support others unionizing. Profits are the highest they have ever been, and wages have barely gone up.
no mention of the lack of wage increases? since the 70s, while worker productivity has gone up, after adjusting for inflation our wages have not risen at all. meanwhile, the average incomes of CEOs have ballooned up to about 2000x times that of their employees.
Americans need to make being a CEO a dangerous job through whatever means possible. This might attenuate some of that problem.
And they still peddle this asinine myth that billionaires somehow "earned" every dollar. I'm sorry, but no one person on this planet is worth enough money to feed a thousand people every year for a hundred years.
@@derek96720 Spoken life someone who doesnt understand much about what they are talking about.
If the CEO makes bad choices he affects the lives of thousands, it takes a rather unique combination of personality, education, and experience to do the job well, creating value for the company and the shareholders. where if the average employee is not great at their job they effect very few people and a replacement can be brought in and trained in relatively short order. Compare to the value added by a good ceo to that of one of their minimum wage employees and 2000x does not exactly seem crazy.
maybe you dont understand why ceo's started making so much money, they dont set their own salaries. if they were paid less all that extra earnings the company would make could go to the shareholders, and yet the shareholders, through the board of directors, still agree to give outrageous amounts of money to the guy making the decisions instead of keeping it for themselves. That is because people who are good at the job are rare and the owners of different companies will basically come down to bidding for them because they know those individuals will add more value to the company resulting in a better return on their investment than hiring someone at 50k a year who wasnt able to get a better offer somewhere else. Good ceos are of low supply and high demand, so their price goes up because they add more value to the everyday shareholder. You make money by adding value, not by feeling entitled to it. you want more money, do something that adds more value to society. and yes, a ceo doing a good job adds more value to soceity. they create wealth for shareholders who include every day people, and they create more jobs by growing the company. they get rich yes, but only because everyone around them feel they are worth it and they do more for the economy than you are I do.
@@ericslingerland5472 I never said CEOs didn't add value to a company. But the value of a CEO has increased at a rate exponentially higher than that of the workers that comprise their companies. Are CEOs more educated, talented, and skillet than they were 70 years ago? I greatly doubt it.
I'm not opposed to those who bring value to society becoming rich. I'm opposed to the workers that break their bodies to make them rich having their wages lag behind, when their work load hasn't. The modern worker is more educated than ever, yet they're paid substantially less today than their counterparts decades ago, adjusted for inflation of course.
@@derek96720 literally everyone today is more educated, talented, and skilled than people were 70 years ago. And I would argue that the value of a ceo has increased at a rate exponentially higher than the average worker yes. As companies grow and become more globalized running them gets hard and harder, but does the size of the company do anything to change how hard it is to work an assembly line or in a warehouse? No, those jobs are usually made easier by new technology being added while the ceo has their job get harder
Germany: Work is work
*Wörk
edit: capitalized
*proceed to manufacture panzers*
A survey was done of American workers and among the questions asked was "How much of an 8 hour shift should you be allowed to get away with goofing off?". I don't know what the national number was but the average number for the state of Missouri (where I currently live) was 50%. Americans don't believe in working at work thus explaining why we need more hours to get things done.
Is it bad? I’m planning to work there?
Germany: work sets you free
Lower real wages, fewer benefits, unsociable clients and staff, wealthier shareholders and executives
The fear of closing up earlier and not being open on Sunday is that the mail doesn't stop and neither does Amazon. The USPS does all the deliveries for Amazon every Sunday. We work 7 days a week, some of us literally do because the shortage of workers willing to be carriers for $18 an hour is choking off the Post Office' efficiency. Worse - whatever the schedule is that Amazon sets for bringing packages to the USPS every day sets the time that carriers can leave, so we are leaving later and later every year. Carriers used to show up to work at 6am, case mail for a an hour or so, then go deliver. Today, it's 8:30 and we're out until 10 or 11pm every night, thanks again to the overworked newbies and eligible retirees that leave because they have had enough of seeing Christmas-level work loads over the past two years while more and more people today stay home, ordering boxes instead of risking COVID.
I'm all for reducing the spread of COVID-19, but carriers do not receive hazard pay, are among the lowest wage-earners in the government and work the longest hours. I don't have a lavish lifestyle. It's just me and my cat these days. With so little expenses, rent is 1500 per month, food is 300 per month (vegetarian), and I don't travel anymore. I still have to budget hard since my paychecks are about $1000 if I work 40 hours per week. Who knows? My cat is old and may become sick. My car might not start tomorrow. Life loves the change-up. My only buffer against that is to put in more hours or go get a different job and I love being a letter carrier. It's a hard, body-risking job, but it is not a thankless one. I love serving my customers and they appreciate that I do my best.
Steveyd101 said it best, because I feel it every day: Work harder or more efficiently and you will just get sent right back out with more work.
“In Germany you go to work in order to work & working overtime is a sign of inefficient working.”
I can confirm 💯%. It‘s actually puzzling to see how much less efficient people work in some other countries.
BTW: More hours worked + more dual income households = lower average hourly wages. It’s as simple as that.
The problem is that's not how it happened, wages were stagnet, so people took on overtime cause they needed the money, so eventually the wife takes a job after the kids are grown enough to take care of themselves, he drops his overtime, who now goes to the wife of someone else, and then wages don't grow as inflation does, until oops, his son has to to take overtime while him and his gf share an apartment, meanwhile his mom and dad with there increased experiences are earning about similar to what they were, but do that notice the much worse starting point, so the hole goes deeper, and deeper
I don’t know if you’ll see this since I’m like 2 years late, but it’s it similar in healthcare fields in Germany too?
@@mrjr03 Healthcare in Germany has tons of underpaid jobs. At least that’s what many people say who work in that sector.
Literally any problem: *exists*
EE: but what about the money
If you can't solve the money you can't solve the problem.
At my current job, we are paid hourly, yet have a set amount of "work" we need to do, and if we finish our work early, we get sent home early (and therefore get paid less). There's virtually no pressure to get the work done, so long as it's done on time (by the end of your shift), thanks to the union. It's the most bizarre situation, because it actually encourages workers to try and reduce their productivity so they get the full 8 hours, and therefore maximize their pay. The more productive you are, the less money you make.
The higher ups don't want to "waste money," so they don't want to pay people extra to sit around, while the union prevents them from cracking the whip and getting people to speed up.
I know it sounds like I'm complaining about the union, but it's honestly amazing, the benefits and pay are crazy, and so long as you are doing something productive, you don't have to worry about BS "looking busy" nonsense. It's just one of those incredibly strange jobs in the US, where our very impractical and exploitative working culture combines with a strong union, and creates a scenario that punishes productivity.