I lived in W. Germany as an American expatriate for 3 years. Having a one month holiday every year was very nice. For the month of August, Germany would mostly shutdown as a nation and everyone would head off to Spain, Italy and Greece. The American practice of having only two weeks off in a year is mistake. IMHO, the American practice is not cost effective because people are off their peak performance. The extra 2 weeks per year (2 / 52 = 3.8 percent) would probably yield better than 3.8 percent improvement in productivity. My German coworkers told me that studies have shown this to be true.

However in other areas the Germans / Europeans have gone too far. For example, the 35 hr. work week was considered one of European trade unionism's great triumphs. The European trade unions may have successfully negotiation themselves out of a job by being uncompetitive in the globalized labor market. I know many manufacturing industries have shutdown in Germany and relocated to Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic where labor is much cheaper. For many decades, German propsperity rode on the backs of their Turkish guest workers who were second class citizens. Of course, we Americans are in no position to criticize with illegal aliens doing much of our low paying agricultural work. However the Turkish guest workers were a major component of the German economy. One thing that disturbed me about Germany was the high level of unemployment. Much of this unemployment was voluntary, i.e. people chose not to work because they did not want to relocate where the jobs were. Many people in Germany simply decided to live off the dole because it was easier than working. That sort of decision was possible because of the large Turkish underclass doing most of the hard work.

Gary