On the Worldwide Imbalance of Labor

Sometime during the incredibly heated and incredibly irrelevant Republican primary of 2012, evangelical candidate Rick Santorum stood in front of a large crowd after pulling off a narrow victory over Mitt Romney in Iowa. "My dad taught me over and over again: Work hard, work hard, and work hard," Santorum patriotically delivered. The applause that followed this statement reflected how perfectly this statement illustrates the American belief in Capitalism. Even Democrats could not argue with this: no one would say they are "against" working hard. While few Democrats would disagree with Santorum's platform that working hard prevents poverty, fewer still would disagree with the idea that hard work pays off.

Remember, if you will, back to 2008, during the last election. Remember what the most prominent issue of that election was? Chances are, you remember it being the same as it was this election: the economy. That made sense back then: the economy sucked. Unemployment was climbing; by 2009, it was nearing 10%, and the country was terrified of economic ruin. The "great recession," as we called it back then, would eventually end. A couple of years after President Obama took office, the economy began to slowly improve. The unemployment rate dropped below 8%, and President Obama was rewarded with a second term. Now image if, in 2009, the economy had not gotten better, and instead had become worse...and worse...and worse...
This is the economic situation that grips Greece, which currently has an unemployment rate of about 26.8% percent; approximately what the United States sustained during the Great Depression.

In a recent poll conducted in eight European countries, a plurality of citizens in five of those countries rated Greece as the "least hardworking" country in Europe. In case you are unaware or a fish, Greece is currently in an extremely difficult economic situation, with unemployment and debt that have led to violent riots. Greece itself was the only country in the poll that considered themselves the hardest working country in Europe, yet they were right: according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), citizens of Greece work longer hours than any other European country. It would appear from this study that hard work does not pay off as it should.

Interestingly, every country except for Greece ranked Germany as the hardest working country, yet it actually works the second-least according to the OECD. Germany's reputation for being an extremely hard-working country has most likely risen from its resilience to Europe's economic issues: in 2012, Germany reported just a 6.70 percent unemployment rate, far below the European Union average. This study showed that, for some reason, we seem to equate hard work with success. In fact, the true correlation is closer to the opposite: Matthew Yglesias wrote for Slate magazine that "Countries aren't rich because their people work hard. When people are poor, that's when they work hard." 

When we equate wealth with hard work, we corrupt our ability to see where our work is truly going. Citizens of highly developed Norway work an average of 1413 hours per year, one of the lowest amounts in the OECD's study, but pull in a median annual income of $31,011, among the highest. The hardest working non-European countries in the study, South Korea, Chile, and Israel, make the 20th, 32nd, and 25th highest per year in median income, after most highly-developed European countries. Of course it is true that hard work pays off, but it only pays off in the right context. Capitalism does not, contrary to what many think, create an environment where hard work is rewarded with economic advancement. Rather, it fosters an economic system that rewards those who have capital with more capital.

Writing about the terribly sad global economic system that hurts many countries reminded me of this funny cartoon I once read. 

It isn't the fault of highly-developed countries like Norway and France that other countries work hard for little benefit. Those countries should be commended for figuring out a way around difficult labor. Rather, it is the capitalistic worldwide economy that so many countries embrace, and that so many countries believe will solve their economic issues.  Capitalism dictates that hard work is rewarded with economic advancement. In reality, the Capitalist system rewards those countries that are already economically stable, and don't need to rely on long work hours for economic security. The data taken by the OECD shows that no country is truly struggling because of a lack of hard work. The fact that so many people in Europe thought Greece was a "lazy" country is proof of how far Capitalist ideology has become engrained into our society. 


written by Abe Clark, January 15, 2013