"When
work hours increase from 17 to 60 a week, the percentage of people on the
Old Continent who identify themselves as generally happy drops from 28 to 23
percent. Meanwhile, under the same circumstances, the general wellbeing of
Americans remains unchanged. Where do these differences come from?"
Americans
genuinely love to work, while Europeans are much happier when they can dedicate
themselves to blissful idleness. That's according to new research by Professor Adam
Okulich-Kozaryn of the University of Texas at Dallas.
Well, then I'm definitely European.
When work hours increase from
17 to 60 a week, the percentage of people on the Old Continent who identify
themselves as generally happy drops from 28 to 23 percent. Meanwhile, under the
same circumstances, the general wellbeing of Americans remains unchanged. What’s
more, as much as 43 percent of American respondents claim to be very happy.
Where do these differences
come from? Do Americans have cooler jobs?
Not necessarily. The truth is
that no one knows how to explain it, and the research does little to do so. Scientists
can only speculate. Professor of economics Richard Easterlin
thinks that the number of happy people depends, among other things, on what they
consider fundamental to their happiness. It seems what Europeans want primarily
is the time to enjoy their lives, while Americans would rather have higher
incomes.
In addition, the United
States is inhabited by people who believe that hard work translates into
prosperity. So it pays to work hard. This way of thinking is derived from the "American
dream," which is a belief that the myth of rags-to-riches is true, but only
at the cost of great toil. Easterlin says that such
notions may not in fact be true, and that it's more about how people think.
With further
research, Professor Okulich-Kozaryn intends to verify
whether satisfaction with long work hours affects how much people pay in taxes.
It may turn out that people in America pay less to the state treasury than Europeans.
In other words, it pays to work longer because there is more left in the pockets
of employees.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Professor Okulich-Kozaryn's work appears in The Journal of
Happiness Studies, and is accompanied by a list of Happiest
States. If you plan to stay for any length of time, it might be good to
know that people lead the happiest lives in Hawaii (no surprise), as well as in
the states of Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska (brrr
… cold), Colorado, Minnesota, Utah, Connecticut, Massachusetts. Take note: Sunny
California is only at 18th place, and New York at 37th.
At the very bottom of the happiness
rankings were the southern states. Least satisfied with their lives are
inhabitants of Mississippi, Kentucky and West Virginia.
The truth is that for most of
us (since there are notable exceptions), after hours of fruitless overtime (where's
the pay raise?), there is nothing left to do but try and convince ourselves that
one day, we, too, will fulfill the American dream.
