Europe's leisure trap keeps the best out of work - by Helen Mees
Black Friday in the US traditionally is the day after Thanksgiving that signals the start of the holiday season sale. At daybreak, people line up before department stores to get the special "early bird" bargains.
In Europe, black Saturday falls in the last weekend of July, when the French and other Europeans set off in droves for their Mediterranean holiday destinations, and highways get jammed with traffic. This contrast could serve as a metaphor for the difference in lifestyles on either side of the Atlantic. Americans work more hours per week and have less vacation time, but they have more money to spend. Not only does a higher percentage of American adults work, but they also work more hours per week and more weeks per year. In 2004, the French worked 28 percent fewer hours per person than Americans, and the Germans and Dutch each put in 25 percent fewer hours. The money they earned was correspondingly lower -- almost 30 percent less per person than Americans received.
According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Olivier Blanchard, Europeans simply enjoy leisure more than Americans do, even if it means that they have less money. In his view, this difference in attitude explains the income gap between Europe and the US.
Highly educated European women who have children either stay at home or work part-time and get stuck in low-end jobs. They take care of the household and children themselves. Meanwhile, there are not enough service jobs in Europe to put everybody to work. The social benefits paid to the out-of-work increase the tax burden on labor income, which in turn discourages women from full-time work. The leisure trap thus keeps both the best educated and the least educated out of the workplace.
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