[DesertCat]

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I hate to break this to you, DesertCat, but the issue here is *paid* vacation time. There's nothing stopping you from working your vacations -- that way you get paid twice over for the same period and earn >>>> than Americans.

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Peter, you are smarter than this. You surely understand that "paid" vacation really isn't. You only earn money by working. Your company pays you some of what you've earned while you aren't working, that's called "paid vacation". Essentially you get paid a little less during working weeks, and that amount is saved up for your vacation periods.

The more "paid vacation" you have as a percentage of your work time, the less time you have to work and the less you will earn. If you are worth $50k a year when you working 48 weeks a year, you are worth less working 40 weeks per year.

Try this thought experiment. Assume your goverment mandates 50 weeks of paid vacation per year, and only 2 weeks of work. Do you really believe companies could still pay the same wages? Auto factories would see production drop by 95%, their revenues from selling those cars would also drop by 95%. Do you really think they'd have enough money to pay the same wages?

This is the way it works, even if government mandates just one extra day of vacation time, it comes out of your pocket.


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Secondly, it's mostly only donkeys are paid hourly/daily anyway. Anyone who is on decent money gets a salary, and therefore it doesn't matter how many hours a week or month you work, your pay will be the same.

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The more hours you work, the more you produce and the more valuable you are to employers. Even if salaried. In a competitive labor (er, labour) market, on average you'll see the benefit of extra work, either through promotions, raises, or a higher offer from a competitive firm. All other things being equal, an employee who comes in at 7 am, and leaves at 7 pm, working hard the entire time, is worth more than a twin who comes in at 9 am, and leaves at 5 pm, even if the twin works equally hard whilst in the office.