Birth, death and work between

You are born, you live, and then you die. That is the human existence in a nutshell. You might have no say in birth and little, if any, in death -- but the middle bit is largely up to you. And guess what Americans seem to be doing with it?\nThe United Nations' International Labour Organization recently released a study showing the average American spent 1,978 hours at work last year -- an increase of 192 hours from 30 years ago, which translates into more than a month's worth of extra work per year.\nWhen the New York-based Families and Work Institute surveyed workers across the United States, half said they felt overworked, 24 percent said they worked at least 50 hours per week, 22 percent worked six to seven days per week, and 25 percent failed to use vacation time they were entitled to.\nAmerica is also working more than any other industrialized nation in the world. Annually, the average worker here puts in two-and-a-half more weeks on the job than Australians, Canadians, Japanese and Mexicans, more than five more weeks than Brazilians and British and 12-and-a-half more weeks than Germans.\nThe absurdity is, while Americans might be working longer and producing more per person, they are doing it significantly less efficiently than their European counterparts. The biggest culprit reducing efficiency seems to be, oddly enough, stress. \nA third of employees admit to making more mistakes at work when they felt overworked. They also report more problems in their personal lives. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, one in three partners of people working more than 48 hours per week said the long hours were having a negative effect on their relationships.\nAmericans get an average of nine days off a year, which is dismal compared to Australians and Europeans who, by law, get four to six weeks paid vacation. Swedes, on the other hand, have the best deal with five weeks vacation during the year and another two weeks around Christmas.\nWhen time is taken off, a common complaint is much of the vacation is spent worrying about the office. As a consequence, many are choosing simply not to go on vacation. After all, what's the point if you are only going to spend the whole time thinking about work?\nSome U.S. companies allow their workers to trade in vacation time for cash, a practice that is banned in the United Kingdom.\nThe trend of Americans spending more and more time at work runs counter to what is happening in other industrialized nations, where annual work hours are declining. There is no clear picture of why Americans are work-obsessed.\nOne reason might be that technology is making it more difficult for people to escape the rat race. Cell phones, e-mail and remote access to company networks make it easy for people to remain in contact with work anywhere, anytime.\nIn reality, it probably comes down to the nation's psychology, both at the individual and company level -- do you work to live or live to work? The statistics point to the latter.\nGiven the choice, I would be perfectly happy to lie on a beach, sip a cold beer and be a totally unproductive member of society. But, for some people, personal success is synonymous with career success.\nYou are born, you work and then you die.