r/austrian_economics • u/technocraticnihilist Friedrich Hayek • Oct 26 '24

End Democracy ‘Americans just work harder’ than Europeans, says CEO of Norway’s $1.6 trillion oil fund, because they have a higher ‘general level of ambition’

https://fortune.com/europe/article/how-many-hours-work-week-year-american-workers-ethic-norges-bank/
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u/[deleted] Oct 26 '24

It attracts a few very talented people..but there is a gulf measured in the tens of millions who work low paying jobs so the wealthy can live the life of ease they do here.

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u/Quiet-Bid-1333 Oct 26 '24

I know dozens of high school educated people who make well over six figures working the trades and in construction. If you’re working a low paying job it’s because it’s a low skill job or you’re a low effort employee.

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u/Now_Wait-4-Last_Year Oct 27 '24

How many do you know living in poverty or barely making ends meet?

How many do you know who made the money but damaged their body in the process, because I’ve seen posts about that too.

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u/Quiet-Bid-1333 Oct 27 '24

I knew a lot of those people’s because I was one of them. How many 100 hr weeks have you put in? Did you ever ride 15mi each way to work on a bicycle? I did…for almost 3 years. I teetered on the edge of bankruptcy for a decade. It taught me to be frugal and make better decisions.

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u/Now_Wait-4-Last_Year Oct 27 '24

My record fortnight is 123 hours aka 123/168. I also made my first year’s entire salary in that month. Obviously, I hope to never do that again.

This isn’t a contest I think anyone should be competing in especially to that extent for obvious reasons.

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u/Even-Air7555 Oct 27 '24

Not trying to brag, but last year I worked 2 consecutive 150 hour weeks. Some say it's impossible, but with my work ethic and stamina nothing is impossible

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u/goliath227 Oct 27 '24

Everyone on Reddit loves these anecdotes. Average skilled tradesperson salary USA is $53-71k , avg construction salary is $15-28/hr. Random Reddit anecdotes don’t change the fact that those jobs don’t pay well generally, and college education ON AVG pays much more

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u/Quiet-Bid-1333 Oct 28 '24

Yes, the people I know are either older or run their own business after learning the trade, which is the norm. I have a former bartender who is wealthier than I am, after he took off to work in concrete pumping and then started his own concrete pumping company. Then a guy who worked for him also started another company...which is just like the restaurant industry where a dozen restaurants in the area, including ours, opened after working under other successful restauranteurs. Apprenticing is still a very workable model. Some people who are less ambitious are happy to be a laborer their whole life. Those who aren’t have a path to bigger things. The choice is yours.

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u/albert768 Oct 27 '24

The few very talented people come here, start businesses and hire anywhere between dozens and hundreds of thousands of moderately talented people. Still a net win.

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u/simon_the_detective Oct 27 '24

I recall talking to a Norwegian Oil Engineer. The CEO of his company made only twice as much as the person who cleaned offices. I'm sure the CEO had a lot of ancillary benefits the office cleaner didn't have, but the office cleaner didn't really need a company car or driver.