Europeans have more time, Americans more money. Which is better?

26 comments

1. Comparing Europeans and Americans is dangerous terrain, but last week Nicolai Tangen, head of Norway’s giant oil fund, went there. He told the Financial Times there was a difference in “the general level of ambition. We [Europeans] are not very ambitious. I should be careful about talking about work-life balance, but the Americans just work harder.”

   This has been said often before. In Franz Kafka’s novel *Amerika*, published posthumously in 1927, the main character, Karl, travels from Europe to the US, where he meets a man who studies by night and is a salesman by day. “But when do you sleep?” asks Karl.

   “Yes, sleep!” said the student. “I will sleep when I’m done with my studies. For the time being I drink black coffee.”

   Europeans and Americans do things differently.

   Europeans have more time, and Americans more money. It is a cop-out to say which you prefer is a matter of taste. There are three fairly objective measures of a good society: how long people live, how happy they are and whether they can afford the things they need. A society must also be sustainable, as measured by its carbon emissions, collective debt and level of innovation. So which side does it better?

   Americans, who typically have less paid holiday, notch up the equivalent of more than an hour of extra work every weekday, compared with Europeans: 1,811 annual hours per American worker in 2022, versus about 1,500 across northern Europe, bottoming out at 1,341 in Germany, according to the OECD. Because Americans are also more productive per hour worked than most Europeans, their average incomes are higher than in all European countries bar Luxembourg, Ireland, Norway and Switzerland.

2. there is no money that can compensate the time of human life

3. Time

4. Better for whom? Corporations or ordinary working folks?

5. With no time at disposal, how and when Americans spend their money?

6. Por qué no los dos ? 🤔

7. You can’t buy time with money, but you can spend time making money

8. It’s an interesting thought but why have all of the money with not enough time to enjoy it.

   Personally, I’m comfortable and I always will be, I’m happy enough with my free time too, but I’d like more of it.

9. Take a look at American society and work culture. Would you want that in your country? I wouldn’t. There’s your answer.

10. weird generalization, some europeans have less time and less money

11. I don’t know, other sources ([AMECO datasets](https://dashboard.tech.ec.europa.eu/qs_digit_dashboard_mt/public/sense/app/667e9fba-eea7-4d17-abf0-ef20f6994336/sheet/2f9f3ab7-09e9-4665-92d1-de9ead91fac7/state/analysis)) claim that EU and US average worked hours aren’t that distant, not enough to justify the “lazy European” narrative, but apparently silly me for thinking that the main obstacles to being competitive were 27+1 different bureaucratic procedures and a lack of a true common language.

12. Time is not renewable, money is. A lot of people get so caught up in everyday life (understandable!) that they tend to forget the time that is ticking…

13. And here I am in Poland with neither.

14. I read a couple of times that in Africa they say “you have the watches, we have the time”.

15. You can use time to make money but you can’t use money to make or buy time, so time is obviously better

16. Time is money

17. European here: I have both more time and more money. It’s good.

18. When I talk to my friends in America earning more money than me. I think having more time is better.

19. As an American let me tell you, time is better.

20. Time is money, friend

21. Why should I work more? The company I work for and the investors are going to earn more money, not me 🤷‍♂️

    This is bullshit narrative, Americans earn more because their country is richer than Europe. As simple as that. Working hours come from how work is regulated.

22. Time 100%

    I’ve had more of both in the past and time is by far the most valuable.

23. Time, because its limited.

24. Where is this more money? Is it in statistics that basically tallies up all the money there is in the USA and then divides it by the total population to create a statistical truism that isn’t reflected by reality. The reason why I am asking this ( I am not doubting it) is that it is obvious that the capital wealth is concentrated in the USA. The university of Pennsylvania recently released a study that showed that the amount of homeless 55+ people will trippel by 2026 and the amount of pensioners without a pension (who will live of the grace of friends and family) will skyrocket

    The Emerging Crisis of Aged Homelessness

    https://aisp.upenn.edu/aginghomelessness/

    I think it’s time to stop comparing the EU and the USA we live by different metrics

25. As someone who regulary picks time over money, i can say it’s worth it every time.

26. People seem to forget that they won’t live forever, that your health is precious and can be taken from you at any second. Yes you need money to live, but it ain’t coming with you when you’re gone.

    Time all the way.