Who's Living Better: Americans/Canadians or Europeans/Australians

[Man Inside The Child]

Here's what Madonna recently said:

'I find that people in Europe are much more interested in the quality of life. They're not so work-orientated.


It's been argued that Americans and Canadians spend much more time working than enjoying life... One example is the average holiday one takes or is allowed to take in various countries... In Canada and the U.S., I think it is between 10 days to 14 days... In France however, one can enjoy one month of vacation time per year... How about Australia at 2/3 months I've heard...

Europeans also argue that they love to enjoy life, spend more time with family and are much less inclined to be financially oriented as North Americans tend to be.

Even in Canada, Montrealers tend to argue that Torontonians are too North American, worrying about the mighty dollar, while Montrealers are much more "European" and seem to be socially oriented...

What do you think?

 

[the olive]

I think that there are more laws in many European that benefit the common worker, relating to hours, wages etc. Many European countries are more socialistic in nature, whereas in N America the almighty dollar rules.

 

[melon]

The U.S. wanted to emulate Japan so bad that we emulated them right down to their work obsession. We used to laugh at Japan in the early 1990s; now we work more than Japan.

I think we're heading down their road more ways than one, and I think that all of this stress is very unhealthy. I hate how work-obsessed this nation is. It's not like the economy is going to tuck you in at night and make love to you.

I think our work obsession is just our way of avoiding our problems anyway. It's easier to push them aside than to actually confront them.

Melon

 

[deep]

Do American's worship money?


Every denomination of our corrency and coinage has "God" on it.

 

[ouizy]

As much as I think Madonna is a moronic imp, I think she may have a point here.

I have lived in Italy for a little while, and as much as my friends and I joked that many Italians seemed to never work, their way of life was so much more admirable than here in the US (and Canada I would imagine as 90% of the people I work with are Canadian.)

Vacation, relaxation, better hours - these are things we should all have, but typically do not. We are infatuated with money.

Good thread.

 

[Man Inside The Child]

I see Canadian couples get married, get a mortgage, work like dogs to pay of that mortgage... they contribute to their retirement over the years and once they reach 65, they say, now we can enjoy life... they take the odd cruise, golf and 10 years later they die lol... nice life

life should be enjoyed throughout and we shouldn't be slaves at our prime just so we can retire well. spend, travel, do it all when your young and when you can appreciate it more.

Canadians and Americans don't seem to travel and see the world much let alone visit the theatre or restaurants very often...

Europeans give more time to such leisure activities and who care if there work ethic is not as good as north americans... Hmmm, I wonder if family is closer as a result of more time spent in Europe??? I wonder if the divorce rate is less over there with less people so concerned about working so hard and making money...

 

[bonoman]

Europeans give more time to such leisure activities and who care if there work ethic is not as good as north americans... Hmmm, I wonder if family is closer as a result of more time spent in Europe??? I wonder if the divorce rate is less over there with less people so concerned about working so hard and making money...

Good question. Anyone have the info.

Though your restuarant comment isnt correct as NA love to eat out. We do enjoy ourselves but we usually do it after satisfying our financial needs first. I will be back to comment further

 

[Angela Harlem]

We don't get 2-3 months off per year in the average full time position. Its standard 4 weeks a year, plus public holidays in most cases. We hear often how studies show that most people here work too much overtime. Instead of sticking to a 40 hour work week, the average is over 50 hours a week. They also show that we are pretty poor at actually taking holidays. We get compared to America in this regard, where things are pretty similar. I don't know about Canada. When compared to Europe, we seem to be less strict in sticking to regular work hours and aren't as dedicated to taking holidays. I can only go by heresay when you talk to people who have worked in Europe and how they are amazed that overtime is not expected, nor common and we are thought of as odd that it is a norm here.
As a guess, I wouldn't say the practice here or in America is necessarily due to a desire to earn big bucks. To get an accurate idea of what is really going on, you'd have to start looking at comparative costs of living, the welfare state in regard to pensions, superannuation schemes, tax and even the average company expectations.

 

[TylerDurden]

How about Australia at 2/3 months I've heard...

I appear to be living in the wrong Australia then....

 

[hiphop]

We won?t get 2/3 months of holidays, except for teachers.

In a normal position, you start with 4 weeks. After some years, you get 6 weeks, then probably 8 weeks. But employment systems are changing here. You might have more free time than you actually want, when you are not officially employed, but freelancing.