Good morning from far from perfect pinko-commie Yurup.
I must firstly say that I am surprised that an American opinion writer was allowed to write something positive about Europe [notably excluding Brexited Britain], anyway let's get down to the crux of the matter.
Americans have a hard time learning from foreign experience. Our size and the role of English as an international language (which reduces our incentive to learn other tongues) conspire to make us oblivious to alternative ways of living and the possibilities of change.
Our insularity may be especially damaging when it comes to countries with whom we have a lot in common. Western Europe is our technological equal; labor productivity in northern Europe is just a little below productivity here. But Europe’s policies and institutions are very unlike ours, and we could learn a lot by looking at how those differences have played out. Unfortunately, any suggestion that Europe does something we might want to emulate tends to be shouted down with cries of “socialism.”
OMG, he even has something positive to say about us cheese eating surrender monkeys
Well, a comparison with Europe may shed some light on the subject. For the Great Resignation, it turns out, is largely an American phenomenon. European nations have been much more successful than we have at getting people back to work. In France, in particular, employment and labor force participation are now well above prepandemic levels. What explains this difference?
I suppose by now some Americans are screaming but, but FREEDOM?
Another answer may lie in trans-Atlantic differences in how we approached Covid relief. While the United States made some effort to help businesses stay afloat and retain their labor forces, mainly we helped displaced workers through enhanced unemployment benefits. Europe, on the other hand, mainly relied on job retention schemes — government aid intended to keep people on employer payrolls even if they weren’t working at the moment.
The freedom to remain employed, how could they!
Of course, Europe is by no means a worker’s paradise. But some jobs that are grueling and poorly paid here are less awful on the other side of the Atlantic. Famously, in Denmark McDonald’s pays more than $20 an hour and offers six weeks of paid vacation each year. That may be an exceptional case, but the U.S. does stand out among wealthy countries for having a low minimum wage, for offering very little vacation time and for failing to offer parental and sick leave. Maybe the poor quality of U.S. jobs is one reason so many American workers are reluctant to return.
Burger flippers earning $20 an hour! It’s positively COMMIE!
Not even mentioning the criminal socialist universal health care systems. How dare he skip that evil!
U.S. elite opinion, especially but not only on the right, has long assumed that making jobs better would backfire, because higher labor costs would reduce employment. But European experience says otherwise. Even before the pandemic, many European countries were doing pretty well at job creation; France, for example, has consistently had higher employment rates among prime-age adults than the United States.
France again, phooey! I am never eating French fries again! Damn, I forgot since Gee Dubya Bush that they are forbidden, oh wait….
I will ask however that the US keeps their culture wars to themselves, but there could be some exchange of ideas?
PS
There was a croissant shortage this morning that might explain the snark.