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Comment by Samuel_Michon | Hacker News Reader

> Greeks work the most hours/year on average, and Belgians work the fewest.

Also taking into account GDP divided by population, that implies Greeks get less done per hour than Belgians. To call Southern Europeans ‘lazy’ would be a bit much, but I do think the numbers support that they have a different work ethic from Northern Europeans.

I live in the Netherlands, where people work 30 hours a week on average. Yet, the Netherlands is one of the most productive countries in the world, if GDP (PPP) is to be believed[1]. (Then again, on that chart, Greece is placed only one spot lower, so that may not be the best source.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_...

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Sure, I'm simply responding to the "laziness" argument.

Greece's problem is indeed productivity, not lack of hard work. There are a lot of hard-working mom-and-pop shops which put in many hours, but cannot anymore compete in a globalized economy, when their international competitors are streamlined corporations. Here in Denmark we work fewer hours, but rather than work them in a DIY import/export business like is common in Greece, in Denmark those hours are put into a giant globalized logistics business like Maersk. The end result is more productivity, not because the individual Maersk employee is more hardworking while the Greek import/export guy is lazy (the opposite is likely true), but simply because 10,000 mom-and-pop businesses put together cannot compete with a well-oiled machine like Maersk.

I agree. I also think that education level might have something to do with it. As a farmer or factory worker, you’ll likely work hard, but your contribution probably won’t be reflected as much in GDP as an engineer’s work.

We have plenty of engineers in spain (me being one).

http://capitalsocialenespanol.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/st...

http://capitalsocialenespanol.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/gr...

I wasn’t suggesting there aren’t any engineers in Spain. But to compare the Netherlands and Spain using the chart you cited:

Students who graduated in 2010 in the fields of mathematics, science and technology:

The Netherlands: 15,000, on a population of 17 million. At that time, the country had 985 thousand people between the ages of 20 and 24. The percentage of 2010 graduates in STEM fields is 1.5% of that group.

Spain: 25,000, on a population of 47 million. At that time, the country had 3,34 million people between the ages of 20 and 24. The percentage of 2010 graduates in STEM fields is 0.75% of that group.

So, relatively, twice as many Dutchmen graduate in STEM fields than Spaniards and it’s certainly not a new trend. I think it’s safe to say that, relatively, the Netherlands has at least twice as many people who graduated in STEM fields.

Of course, my mention of engineers were just an example. The Netherlands is tiny, Spain is 11 times larger in area. That’s one of the reasons why the Netherlands has a far smaller group of agricultural workers. However, despite it being cramped, the Netherlands has more than half of the GDP Spain has.

For people aged from 25 to 34, Spain has a higher level of tertiary attainment than Germany.

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/factbook-2013-en/10/01/06...

Personally I think the current economic difficulties are mostly structural, rather than to do with individual attainment or character of the populous. You can have wealthy agricultural societies and you can have poor industrial ones.

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