Such statistics are almost always meaningless. In Germany, the total volume of work has increased significantly over the last 30 years, but the number of hours worked per worker has fallen over the same period. How can this be? This is because part-time workers are also included in the statistics. This can lead to the bizarre situation where more work is being done, but the average number of hours worked is falling, for example because more women are working part-time instead of not working at all.

Therefore, we should either compare only the total volume of work in relation to the population or only the average working hours of full-time positions. Both of these approaches, however, have their own problems.

Nevertheless, it is of course ridiculous that people in the USA are not entitled to vacation. That said, I wouldn’t put my faith in politics. But strong unions can change that.