Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Leisure Day?

Now listen to the experience of Lance Rakow, general manager of an INX International plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that makes specialty inks.  He hires production workers at $13.50 an hour.  Felons?  Not a problem.
"If only he could get people to show up, or at least call when they don't. Last autumn and winter, he says, he lost nine guys -- one star opted for Bible college, and the rest were fired, mainly because they accumulated too many unexcused, unexplained absences."
Is it possible that the good old North American working stiff is losing his appetite for work and his willingness to submit to factory discipline? It may be significant that the nation that leads the world in number of hours worked per year is South Korea.
Mexican workers are ranked #3 in the world at 1,980 hours per year, right after South Korea and Poland. Maybe it's just as well that lots of hard-working Koreans and Mexicans are coming to the United States. Otherwise we might have to rename Labor Day as Leisure Day.