Cheap American Labor

Having worked for a company based out of another country, while working there I thought a lot about what it involves to be an American at work. As I wrote this sentence, I googled "productivity index." If one goes to the bls.gov, they will find the productivity index for the US. Further, if one goes to an economic journal, like The Economist, they can find that information against other countries (OECD). Quite simply, the US is the standard for productivity. To be fair, it should, but is not always, be weighted for hours worked, which means that simply because we work more hours than the French does not necessarily mean we are more productive, per se.

That said, thinking about productivity and the US against other countries, I have some thoughts. First, the US is the global barometer for Productivity; we are 100/100. With that, and thinking about colleagues in other countries, I think about what a US employee of a global firm receives in vacation vs. their colleagues in the EU, or elsewhere. Certainly, there are those in the developing world that have it more difficult than we do, and that work very hard for paltry wages. Yet, when I think of the EU and the US, sometimes I think, do executives in the EU not think the same way of the US that we do of places like Sri Lanka or Malaysia?

As Americans, we are cheaper as employees. In an exempt salaried position, an American will work more hours and have less vacation. Moreover, if one wants to lay off hundreds or thousands, in the US it is not so difficult. Rather than have one's firm suffer a surplus of labor not having demand to fulfill, a US employer can simply lay-off resource to meet the demand. Of course, there are reasons for the US having a more liberal economy, allowing for such corporate prerogative, but we should see benefits, right?

I say that, because one, as I am sure many, take the position that the US without inhibitions on companies has a more thriving economy than more constrained economies. One could say that, and they could show statistics from the past to help support that; however, the US economy, against the EU's or APAC's, is not carrying the standard. Rather than our bearing both the standard for labor productivity and economic success, we are working more hours, having less vacation, and we have less to show for it.

I have nothing to personally complain about on the subject, but looking at folks all over it is hard not to question the state of affairs. Just thinking about what we have compared to what we don't have respective of quality of life (e.g. family, leisure or health), those things make me think that our culture has somewhat missed the boat.