Countries such as Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands have demonstrated that it is possible to have significantly shorter average hours, and have arguably fared better during economic recession. People living in countries with shorter average working hours also tend to report higher levels of life satisfaction and lower levels of stress, with the ‘ideal’ working week lying somewhere between 25 and 30 hours according to the results of a recent Europe-wide survey.
Many have commented on the persistent use of the phrase ‘hard-working’ and especially ‘hard-working families’ in British politics .... http://www.neweconomics.org
