Jeb Bush said that if he’s elected president, he would lead the country to generate significant economic growth.
But to achieve his lofty targets, American workers are going to have to work a lot longer.
Bush told a group of people in New Hampshire Wednesday that he wants to achieve annual economic growth of four per cent. And he said that means, according to The Guardian, “that people need to work longer hours and through their productivity gain more income for their families.”
Americans work some of the longest hours among OECD countries – but not the longest. According to OECD statistics Americans worked 1,789 hours in 2014, or approximately 34.4 hours a week.
It turns out that Americans also get the least amount of paid time off among OECD countries – none. However that didn’t stop Jeb Bush’s brother, President George W. Bush, from taking 407 days off during the first six years of his presidency – the most of any American president.
But back to average workers. How does the average American work week compare? Well, Canadians worked 1,704 hours a year (32.7 hours a week) in 2014, less than Americans. Norwegians – hailed for their quality of life – worked 1,427 hours (27.4 hours a week), far less than Americans.
The average person in France worked 1,489 hours (28.6 hours a week) in 2013.
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The financially struggling Greeks must work less than Americans, right? Wrong. In 2014, the average Greek worked 2,042 hours (39.2 hours a week) in 2014, according to OECD stats.
Speaking to reporters, Jeb Bush said after the event that they “can take it out of context” but what he meant was people are going to have to switch from part-time to full-time jobs.
“You can take it out of context all you want, but high-sustained growth means people work 40 hours rather than 30 hours and that by our success they have disposable income for their families to decide how they want to spend it rather than standing in line and being dependent upon government,” he said, according to The Guardian.
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