World

Aussies working world's longest hours

by adrock2xander | January 8, 2009 at 10:25 pm

124 views | 17 Recommendations | 3 comments

Shockingly, one third of full-time workers will take not one day of annual leave this year, according the country's largest ever study into annual leave accrual undertaken by Tourism Australia.

The figures show Australians work the longest hours in the developed world.

Here's another way to put it - we Aussies (or is it 'us Aussies?' bah damn my failing English!) work our socks off coz we have to pay off some things or another.

Myself? I haven't the gall or audacity to chuck a sickie or even take a day of leave considering I was on a one year enforced sabbatical last year. And really, I'm working and making up for lost time in 2008.

I just received my Christmas and New Year fortnight pay, and I said a little prayer when I saw my bank balance. In just a little over the last two months, I've earnt more than the entire financial year just gone. Money was so hard to come buy, and I was only getting one or two days shifts a week. Watching your bank balance swell to a four-digit sum after bills does make for Must See TV.

Most importantly, I'm working for the wedding and pull off a miraculous escape. Just several months ago the idea of postponing the wedding was an idea I played around with; now I put in almost 80% of my pay into the wedding fund and we're both looking forward to the big day. I'm sure the wedding fund appreciates the extra dose of TLC it's receiving from me as well.

So yes, Tourism Australia isn't doing anything wrong per se. I'm just a little unsure if they're doing the right thing as the millions they've invested on luring Aussies back into month-long escapades is a classic case of one step forward, two steps back. But for many Aussies out there, myself included, we won't be taking any time off for personal fulfilment.

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Uwe Paschen

at 22:47 on January 8th, 2009

It looks as if we are going back to a system of class divide and abuses such as in the late 19s century. Part of it is due to our own fault though. Failure to plan ahead and depts. And this willingly since we did vote democratically for tax breaks, loosening the rules and allowing Capitalism to go wild.

adrock2xander

at 23:43 on January 8th, 2009

I can't say it's all Aussies' fault. There are so many permutations and reasons why Aussies are where they are right now. It's more lack of foresight and less this generation's fault. The truth is, young adults just out of university will find it extremely hard to 'remain profitable' as cost of living escalates, property values skyrockets (subprime anyone? lol), and university fees continue to rise.

Also, education here is no longer free. It wasn't too long ago when Aussies had access to free tertiary education. Now, even a basic degree sets one back by about $35K. And that's just tuition fees.

I have a belief that the older generation Aussies laid the groundwork for us, they had an easier and cheaper life, and now their kids and grandkids are having a better way of life, but are paying for it in other ways.

Then again it's not just Australia. Lots of developing countries and even first world countries are in the same boat.

Uwe Paschen

at 01:53 on January 9th, 2009

You are correct and it has been in the making for 50 years now. However part of that is that people have voted in a way that would happen by electing Governments that support the US and its form of capitalism. Some experts and academics have been sounding the alarm bells for over 40 years now and no one did care to listen since all they worried about was tax breaks, holidays over sea and so on. No one back then and even now, wanted to see the reality or act responsibly. It is an old story and why many Empires failed and many countries ended up in misery and the same is happening today again as it did on another scale off course 4000 years ago already. We knew and where warned a long time ago. THe worth is yet to come once the Baby boom generation will get reach 65 and then what. Now we where told by scholars some 40 years ago that we have to plan for that and we still have not done any thing, so what will happen? Well a great big disaster is what will happen...