cross-posted from: https://feddit.bg/post/103527
Around Germany and Greece there were other countries. They went by names like frugal four and PIIGS. They forced "austerity" and stricter working hours onto indebted countries to save their own banks.
The colours on this map show well that northern "productivity" is not about working hours, but about other topics that did not get addressed. Among these topics are also tax heavens (think the Netherlands) and money laundering (think Austria's special relationship with Russia).
So it was nothing more than poor political leadership without vision.
How did they measure that, though? Time spent at place of work? I know a ton of folks on 30 hours contracts that get more shit done than those on 40 hours. With any kind of work (be it physical or mental) there is noticeable deterioration of output after, say, 25-30 hours of straight work, so I'd posit the output does not increase significantly after a certain time at work, its purely a waste of time.