<story><title>We Don’t Need to Work So Much (2015)</title><url>https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/you-really-dont-need-to-work-so-much</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>moksly</author><text>I chose to work in the public sector of Denmark because I’m ideologically inclined that way. That was decades ago, today I would chose to work here because of how much less hours I work compared to my old university friends in the private sector. They earn more money than me, but except for one of them who founded and now manages a successful company, it’s not that much more money. In fact when you calculate in all the extra hours they work, my extra weak of paid vacation, my better paternityleave, the two extra paid child’s sick leave days I get (per time your child is sick), the two yearly extra vacation days (per child under the age of 7) and my pension, I probably only earn around 10-20% less than them, and I get to spend so much more time not working. Hell I even bumped my hours to 30 a week for a while when my daughter was born. That was expensive, but it’s something you aren’t offered in a lot of private sector jobs.&lt;p&gt;I can’t begin to imagine how you guys in America get through life working so much. Let alone how on Earth you raise a family, maintain a relationship and have time for yourselves while you do it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ChuckNorris89</author><text>I feel like you are incredibly privileged that you can afford to to have a family while working so little hours in the public sector and I suspect your situation is not the norm in DK.&lt;p&gt;Friends of mine who moved to SE&amp;#x2F;NL&amp;#x2F;DE&amp;#x2F;DK are definitely working the full 40h&amp;#x2F;week and sometimes more since, as they say, living there is very expsensive.&lt;p&gt;From my experience, the Europeans who toot their &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;life is so good here, why do other people work so much?&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt; horn are privileged enough to have a hand-me-down property bought&amp;#x2F;inherited from their (grand)parents, and since rent&amp;#x2F;mortgage is the biggest expense here, with property prices rising 8 times faster than wages, that property ownership early in life, which they take for granted, gives them the clear advantage that allows them to not bother with the rat race and could even live comfortably on minimum wage.&lt;p&gt;That of course, is not the norm for everyone and especially not if you&amp;#x27;ve just emigrated here, so anyone wishing to own their own property one day has no choice but to jump in the meat grinder and join the rat race.</text></comment>
<story><title>We Don’t Need to Work So Much (2015)</title><url>https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/you-really-dont-need-to-work-so-much</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>moksly</author><text>I chose to work in the public sector of Denmark because I’m ideologically inclined that way. That was decades ago, today I would chose to work here because of how much less hours I work compared to my old university friends in the private sector. They earn more money than me, but except for one of them who founded and now manages a successful company, it’s not that much more money. In fact when you calculate in all the extra hours they work, my extra weak of paid vacation, my better paternityleave, the two extra paid child’s sick leave days I get (per time your child is sick), the two yearly extra vacation days (per child under the age of 7) and my pension, I probably only earn around 10-20% less than them, and I get to spend so much more time not working. Hell I even bumped my hours to 30 a week for a while when my daughter was born. That was expensive, but it’s something you aren’t offered in a lot of private sector jobs.&lt;p&gt;I can’t begin to imagine how you guys in America get through life working so much. Let alone how on Earth you raise a family, maintain a relationship and have time for yourselves while you do it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ampgt</author><text>&amp;gt; but it’s something you aren’t offered in a lot of private sector jobs.&lt;p&gt;To an extent isn’t this because these types of benefits aren’t affordable? The pension, extra vacation, etc wouldn’t be possible without the tax revenue raised from your friends who are working more hours.&lt;p&gt;In America there is a saying “good enough for government work.” I think a lot of public sector jobs get a bad rep because they hand out middle class lifestyles (arguably maybe even upper middle class in Washington DC metro area) at the expense of the private sector.&lt;p&gt;A lot of government employees (and contractors) just got paid to sit at home for 3-4 months during the pandemic if they worked in secure areas (can’t take classified information home). That’s a benefit that the private sector just can’t provide.&lt;p&gt;I guess I don’t really agree with the article. We need hard work, it’s what keeps the system going. We have it so much better than other parts of the world and we shouldn’t take that for granted.</text></comment>