Americans work more and have fatter wallets; Canadians take more time off
Report Findings suggest an intensity gap
The Toronto Star
By Sharda Prashad
People in Ontario work 31/2 weeks less each year than Americans do. If we were to match Americans for hours worked, we’d have fatter wallets and all levels of government would collect an additional $17 billion in taxes from this province each year.
These are some of the findings in the report Time on the job: Intensity and Ontario’s Prosperity Gap, released today by the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity, which is sponsored by the Ontario government.
The study found the average worker in Ontario worked 1,739 hours a year between 1997 and 2004, compared to an average 1,867 hours by American workers in 14 U.S. states. This difference - called the intensity gap - shows Ontario’s gross domestic product per person is $3,700 lower than the average per capita GDP of comparable U.S. states, such as New York.
Neither the report nor the institute support working longer hours, said Roger Martin, chairman of the institute and dean of University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
Previous reports by the institute have called for greater investment in capital, so Ontarians would work smarter and not harder.
“(Ontarians) have to understand the consequences of working less hard,” Martin said.
These include a less robust economy, higher unemployment and less GDP per capita.
If the intensity gap were closed and Ontarians were to work the same hours as Americans, the average Ontario household would have an extra $5,100 in after-tax disposable income. The provincial GDP would grow by $46 billion a year, leading to $7 billion more in provincial taxes, the report says.
In any given week, 7.4 per cent of Ontario workers are away from work, compared to 4.1 per cent of Americans.
And, when Ontarians are at work, they work for 37.5 hours per week, compared to an average of 38.9 hours per week for Americans.
One way to reduce the gap is to help those part-time workers who want full-time employment. Between 1997 and 2004, 32 per cent of part-time workers aged between 25 and 64 wanted full-time work compared to 16 per cent of Americans.
