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US Laborers Work Hard for the Money

New UN report says Americans more productive than peers

By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 3, 2007 1:55 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Labor Day is a well-deserved rest for Americans, as a new UN report shows US laborers work longer, harder, and get more done than their counterparts worldwide. The average US worker produces the most wealth, raking in $63,885 yearly, followed by Irish laborers at $55,986. Only Norway beat the US in the amount of output generated hourly.

The Scandinavian country’s billions of dollars in oil exports helped it best the US by less than $3 at $37.99, the AP reports. Asian workers, although they toiled longer, were less productive than their peers. The report also said laborers from Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East could create more wealth if they had more training, equipment, and technology.

A girl works at a brick kiln at Liuwu Village in Yuncheng in China's Shanxi province in this June 15 2007 file photo. China has arrested two labor bureau officials for their alleged links to slave labor in brick kilns, amid reports Friday, June 22, 2007 that kiln bosses were...
A girl works at a brick kiln at Liuwu Village in Yuncheng in China's Shanxi province in this June 15 2007 file photo. China has arrested two labor bureau officials for their alleged links to slave labor...   (Associated Press)
Vido Trossi, left, and Dwayne Williams, woodworking students with Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, install kitchen cabinets in a condominium on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 in New York. The woodworker training program provides unemployed New Yorkers with eight weeks of free skills training and job placement in the construction industry. The productivity...
Vido Trossi, left, and Dwayne Williams, woodworking students with Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, install kitchen cabinets in a condominium on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 in New York. The woodworker training...   (Associated Press)
Robert Clarke, a woodworking student with Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, installs kitchen cabinets in a condominium on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 in New York. The woodworker training program provides unemployed New Yorkers with eight weeks of free skills training and job placement in the construction industry. The productivity of American workers...
Robert Clarke, a woodworking student with Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, installs kitchen cabinets in a condominium on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 in New York. The woodworker training program provides unemployed...   (Associated Press)
Workers are seen at a construction site on the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago's South Side Wednesday, June 6, 2007. The productivity of American workers slowed sharply in the first three months of this year but wage pressures eased as well, providing evidence that inflation is being restrained. (AP Photo/Charles...
Workers are seen at a construction site on the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago's South Side Wednesday, June 6, 2007. The productivity of American workers slowed sharply in the first three months of this...   (Associated Press)
Workers pour concrete at a construction site on the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago's South Side Wednesday, June 6, 2007. The productivity of American workers slowed sharply in the first three months of this year but wage pressures eased as well, providing evidence that inflation is being restrained. (AP Photo/Charles...
Workers pour concrete at a construction site on the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago's South Side Wednesday, June 6, 2007. The productivity of American workers slowed sharply in the first three months of...   (Associated Press)
Erasmo Ponce, left, talks with one of his employees as they package corn tortillas in Tortilleria Chinantla on Friday, Aug. 3, 2007 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The bakery produces up to one million Mexican-style tortillas daily, says Ponce. In economic news the Labor Department said on Friday...
Erasmo Ponce, left, talks with one of his employees as they package corn tortillas in Tortilleria Chinantla on Friday, Aug. 3, 2007 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The bakery produces up to one million...   (Associated Press)
A parent, right, looks for a lost child at a brick kiln at Liuwu Village in Yuncheng, in China's Shanxi province in this June 15, 2007 file photo. China has arrested two labor bureau officials for their alleged links to slave labor in brick kilns, amid reports Friday, June 22,...
A parent, right, looks for a lost child at a brick kiln at Liuwu Village in Yuncheng, in China's Shanxi province in this June 15, 2007 file photo. China has arrested two labor bureau officials for their...   (Associated Press)
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