The Trend Towards Longer Work Days: No End in Sight

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The Trend Towards Longer Work Days: No End in Sight

One of the most common conceptions of the East Asian people and the East Asian way of life is their undeniably strong work ethic. Many people in the West believe that Asians are probably the most hardworking people on Earth . Many facts, including most of the available official statistics, support the view that Asians do indeed work longer weeks than Europeans. A Singaporean, working for a private company with at least 25 employees, worked 47.1 hours on average in 1995, plus 4.6 hours of overtime (Department of Statistics, Singapore). Compare that to the average working time for a Swede, who works 34.1 hours per week (SCB Statistics Sweden). The average Japanese factory worker worked for a total of 2124 hours in 1990, compared to 1683 hours for a French worker (Japan External Trade Organisation, JETRO).

The most obvious answer to this question is Confucianism. Confucian-based societies in Asia have during the recent decades been characterized by rapid economic growth. "[Confucian] values permeate all of Asia, not just the Chinese part of it" (Rohwer). Diligence is one of the basic values of Confucianism, together with perseverance, moderation and education. In the Confucian model, the society is based on authority and unequal relationships between people: father and son, master and servant, husband and wife, etc. In this society, someone always has authority over someone else's life. Confucianism is also very elitist - a person does not have to understand it, but he does have to follow it in order to maintain the stability in society (more about Confucianism can be learnt from Encyclopedia Britannica). Because of this, hard work has always been a virtue in a Confucian society. If a person living in a Confucian society did not consider work being a virtue, the model made sure that someone else, the "top-half" of the unequal relationship, reminded the "lazy" person and made sure he or she would return to the right path. This top-down style is further strengthened by the strong role the family has in the system. A person is to a greater extent considered being a part of a family, rather than an individual. All this fortifies the incentives to work hard. The Confucian system, when applied to the extreme, does not give anyone a choice of choosing another way of life.

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