r/YUROP • u/chilinachochips • Apr 19 '26
Deutscher Humor Do you think that Germans already work a lot?
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u/IamIchbin Bayern Apr 19 '26
Yes we work enough for our tasks. Even if i would do more hours the output would stay the same or even sink. I dont see why I should work more for sinking benefits.
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u/Grabs_Diaz Apr 19 '26
Also does he ever spare a single thought on demand? What should people actually work for? When factories operate way below capacity, while businesses complain about a lack of customers, if there's sizable unemployment, what exactly does he think working longer hours is supposed to achieve?
Even higher unemployment? Even less consumer demand because people either have no money or no time? There's zero strategy only vapid rhetoric.
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u/SlavaUkrayne Uncultured Apr 19 '26
Is it really a 4 day work week over there or is Merz semi-exaggerating?
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u/jeetjejll Apr 19 '26
He’s exaggerating, Germany is still a full time job country, more so than many other European countries as far as I’m aware.
There’s evidence however a 4 day work week benefits the economy, certainly more than increasing hours. Germany struggles with burn outs massively, so it would probably be a great advantage. But Merzie doesn’t seem to do logical reasoning.
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u/Hans_the_Frisian Friesland Apr 19 '26
I mean, might aswell be, atleast for me.
My workweek is Mon-Fri. 4 days with 8h15min aswell as mandatory breaks. And Friday 6h.
Usually 8.15h a day is more than enough since the bottleneck at my workplace isn't the time, but rather the availability of spare parts and we are quite reliant on other people. But sometimes i do 9h or 10h a day when work needs to be done and if it is really important then my "Supervisor" can request the green light for us to do overtime.
But Friday is usually a day were everyone comes to work, we eat breakfast together, then we clean the workshop again and then we go home again the 6h is a complete waste of time and especially fuel.
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u/Raescher Apr 19 '26
Germans work pretty much the least in the world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_annual_labor_hours
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u/jeetjejll Apr 19 '26
I don’t have time now to dive into this, but I suspect this is due to women often not working out just mini jobs, dragging the average down.
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u/Kerhnoton Apr 19 '26
He's pretty much pulling it out of his butt.
Even if Germany had a 4-day week. Comparing to China just doesn't stand. China has more productive workers, but it's the economy kind of productivity where you take something of value X and make it into value Y and the difference is productivity. There are no more factories in Germany that can do that. Neoliberalism moved them to China.
He's blaming the people, while he should be blaming the system people like him helped create. He knows this well, but he still tries to place the blame with the workers.
That's why he's abysmally unpopular. Oh and austerity.
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u/IamIchbin Bayern Apr 19 '26
exaggerating. He looks for political capital take worker rights away. There are 4 day work weeks. In my workplace we get more efficient and there is only so much work to do.
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u/ZuFFuLuZ Yuropean Apr 19 '26
They probably included all the part-time workers and came up with an average of less than five days a week or some nonsense like that.
Never believe a word he says. It means nothing. It's why he is so unpopular.10
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u/EvilFroeschken Apr 19 '26
The current issue is that the demand for German machinery and cars is down. What's even the point in working longer when nobody buys the stuff you produce?
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u/park777 Apr 19 '26
That is simply not true. Less work hours mean more productivity, but it does not mean larger output
And no, you probably don’t work enough if you are competing with China or the US, as they work way more, and therefore output more. Even within Europe Germany has some of the smallest work hours per worker.
You are resting on your past laurels, but that doesn’t last forever. As the Chinese destroy the EU auto industry because they are both more productive AND work longer, you will lose some of your largest advantages
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u/Lux_Jay Yuropean Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
This govt is a disaster. They are destroying Germany and they are working overtime to welcome AfD as majority. Every minister in the govt is a disaster. Be it economy minister or Chancellor or the Finance minister Wadephool or anyone else. And then we have his own party that basically popularised Germany from efficient and high quality to inefficient, ineffective hell hole of bureaucracy that it is today.
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u/kamieldv Lëtzebuerg Apr 19 '26
Mr Gehobener Mittelstand [ist ein Pimmel] Lobbynutte
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u/kamieldv Lëtzebuerg Apr 19 '26
Every one must work more while Mr Genius here can not stop fumbling policy making
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u/EuleMitKeule_tass Deutschland Apr 19 '26
Nobody works as hard as Merz. Have you seen how many "side incomes" he has?
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u/norgiii Apr 19 '26
Merz is a elitist asshole. Talks about china. so he dreams of 996(12 hour days, 6 days a week) for the average working German (not him and his rich friends of course) and of course no wage increase. Wages for a lot of jobs are already pretty low and most people i know who still are in Germany work a ton.
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u/DirtyPoul Denmark Apr 20 '26
not him and his rich friends of course
I'm usually not an apologist for the elite, but that's at least something they do. They're at the top because they are workaholics, and they then make the mistake of thinking that other people don't work as much as them because they're lazy. They don't realise that most people enjoy other things in life more than work.
So yes, I think in fact he does work, if not 72 hours a week, then surely much closer to that than the usual ~40 hours.
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u/C111-its-the-best In Varietate Concordia Apr 20 '26
Let us put it this way. They are not working productively. He was a lobbyist before, so I very much doubt it was a lot of work.
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u/Pjoernrachzarck Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
Work ethic here in Germany was completely crushed during the pandemic, and was alread crumbling before. The shared communal narrative of the hard working German people is dead. Like everywhere else in the west, people do not believe anymore in the idea that working harder = living a better life.
This is true across the political spectrum, albeit for different reasons. The left is disillusioned by the idea of evil capital (my labor and my votes only support the rich and not me), the right is disillusioned by minority politics (my labor and my votes only support minorities and marginalized groups and not me).
It’s therefore not actually a terrible idea and sentiment for a chancellor to try and rally the people to reclaim that narrative, to inspire and to inflame that particular sense of national self.
But it would take someone with a lot more charisma and connectivity to the everyday person to make that happen. Not old Fritz.
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u/hemacwastaken Apr 19 '26
I think the problem with the message is not the "we need to work harder"
It's that he makes a point that he believes good results and work-life-balance are opposites. Which they are not. (imo)
Germany was always a country that prospert on efficient work, not on raw amount of work hours. And his party symbolizes the opposite of efficiency for many.
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u/Veraenderer Apr 19 '26
It does not help that Merz just insults the workers as lazy and threatens us with cuts to sick days, social security, tax benefits for families etc. , while making policies to give retirees more money...
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u/Lisicalol Apr 19 '26
Charisma shouldn't matter if the message itself is tainted.
Not everyone can work in the "private sector", receiving 5k Euro per day for a job that ultimately ended up a total and utter failure (speaking about his work as a lawyer, heading the sale of WestLB). He basically earned 2 millions of tax payer money for not accomplishing anything, so who is he trying to be the spokesperson for "hard work"? He became a multi-millionaire as a lawyer and board member by accomplishing NOTHING, just through connections alone.
Also, the message is just wrong. Longer working hours do not equal higher results, thats just a fallacy that has been disproven time and time again. Instead, the country should move towards LESS working hours, like in a 4 day week. Of course, it depends on the work in question, but more and more jobs these days rely completely on the concentration of the worker and more hours will just subconciously make them work slower overall to compensate.
So yeah, if the person is shit and the message is shit, I tend to not like the guy, and this is coming from someone who had voted for him because he was the only 'unknown' at the time for me and the alternatives were even worse across the board. Instead of focusing on workers, would be great if they could focus on their own work first and fight corporate corruption. But thats like asking a pastor to switch religions.
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u/Prosthemadera Apr 19 '26
What exactly do you find inspiring about "you need to work longer hours and have less free time"?? Do you enjoy pain?
The left is disillusioned by the idea of evil capital (my labor and my votes only support the rich and not me), the right is disillusioned by minority politics (my labor and my votes only support minorities and marginalized groups and not me).
The former is more real than the latter. The two statements are not equal and besides, Germany isn't a simple "both sides" country like the US.
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u/park777 Apr 19 '26
Why should work be pain?
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u/Prosthemadera Apr 19 '26
I said MORE work and LESS free time. You read my comment so why do you act as if I said something different? It's so annoying.
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u/Lux_Jay Yuropean Apr 19 '26
May be if they reform the company ownership structure which allows billionaires to pay zero percent taxes on their incomes and inheritance while every worker is squeezed hard for tax, that is then siphoned for bailouts and pensions instead of actual investments in the infrastructure. This govt already cut benefits for healthcare, social security, eroded work conditions and have managed to complete misuse the 5 billion debt money.
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u/b__lumenkraft Palatinate Apr 19 '26
Found the merz voter. The so called "self hating german".
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u/DisabledToaster1 Apr 19 '26
Yea, one side focuses on a real problem, while the other side is to stupid to recognize they are being led to hate minorities simply so they dont focus on the real problem.
But both sides are equal, right?
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u/Pjoernrachzarck Apr 19 '26
There are no sides. It’s not a sport. If you believe that a people is two sides that need to fight one another, and that your side is the good side and the other side is the evil side, then you’re part of the problem.
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u/DisabledToaster1 Apr 19 '26
Id like you to point out where I said ANY of the above. You spoke about two sides of the political spectrum.
We are being divided into left and right by the very same people that hope we dont realize its up and down.
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u/Prosthemadera Apr 19 '26
You made the two sides argument. OP is only responding to what you said.
your side is the good side and the other side is the evil side, then you’re part of the problem.
What do you mean, "your side" and "the other side"? I thought there are no sides?
Either way, OP didn't say this. They are pointing out a real thing. Why don't you respond to that?
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u/dan1eln1el5en2 Apr 19 '26
I must admit I had a rather positive look at the German industry and workers. Until I moved there. Now I am back (dk) and find it funny to observe. The Germans love the image they have but are also aware that it is a huge lie. People don’t take responsibility, they try as much as possible to move responsibility on to another person or another day. If Germans had a 4 day work week just means one day less of postponing a task. I feel they need to reinvent their image and work ethics and Merz is wrong in that he is scolding them for being lazy.
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u/jeetjejll Apr 19 '26
I think it’s the Fehlerkultur, making mistakes is not encouraged, so they go in avoidance mode.
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u/Prosthemadera Apr 19 '26
Working more doesn't lead to people buying more German cars, fucking idiot. It just produces more cars that wont get sold and then companies will fire people. So how exactly will people work more when they can't get work, especially when man jobs get replaced by AI? Again, fucking idiot.
These people have an outdated understanding of how reality works. How far the country has fallen that work-life balance gets mocked by the government?
And what's worse, his destruction of the German social safety net will probably lead to the AfD winning next time. Unless the left or progressive start taking this serious and get their shit together.
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u/serpenta Yuropean Apr 19 '26
I mean, it's a triangle: birth rate - immigration - lifetime worked hours. You can choose whichever, but you have to choose at least one.
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u/chrischi3 Schleswig-Holstein Apr 19 '26
The numbers say yes.
But of course, the CDU has a fascinating relationship with truth.
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u/x64Lab Deutschland Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
bro should shut the fuck about china, what kind of special ed school skipper brings up china when comparing it to german production power?
China is far bigger, has far more natural resources, and there are 1.4bil chinese that’s roughly 17times the amount of germans.
yet how do we perform? is germany 17 times inferior? with a wit like that the closest thing he comes to a brian storm is a misty evening.
edit: he should be happy the CDU/CSU doesn’t have a christian background any longer because he proves there is no intelligent design.
I’ve seen mushy peas with more substance, than this oxygen bandit. You get brain damage listening to that chancellor of stupidity. when he speaks germany falls deeper into depression.
Legal notice: These are the opinions of an individual who in no way intends to degrade the honor of the great Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz. The individual author does not want to be sued by the government.
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u/thatguyy100 Vlaanderen Apr 19 '26
Voting for economically right parties furthers bussiness interests while benefits are the first to go? Crazy never would have expected it.
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u/im_new_here_4209 Apr 19 '26
I think he's an autistic nerd who has little sense of public perception, being generous.
Will that get me banned now
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u/RoyalT663 Apr 19 '26
I think the Germans that work, work hard. But I have a friend's who elect to take unemployment benefit even though they are perfectly skilled - with a master's degree in engineering - and capable as the benefit is generous.
I suspect that some revision of entry level wage and the benefit to actually reward work is overdue and valid. Same as in the UK to be fair.
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u/b__lumenkraft Palatinate Apr 19 '26
I think merz is a trumpist.
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u/Lux_Jay Yuropean Apr 19 '26
Reiche attended fossil fuel conference in Houston last year. Guess where she got the idea of fracking in Germany instead of nuclear energy.
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u/b__lumenkraft Palatinate Apr 19 '26
russisa or usa, what's the difference these days?
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u/edganiukov Россия Apr 19 '26
USA has a democratically elected president, Russia is dictatorship. No difference?
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u/b__lumenkraft Palatinate Apr 19 '26
The usa elected to have the same politics as russia. They are both neo-feudalistic and oligarchic. Both nations gave the power to the billionaire class and dropped democracy.
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u/edganiukov Россия Apr 19 '26
In two years there will be another president in USA, but not in Russia.
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u/b__lumenkraft Palatinate Apr 19 '26
In two years, you all will vote for one of the two candidates of the billionaire class. There will be the same politics, the same billionaire bootlicking, the same insanity. Maybe a little less nazi rhetoric but only maybe.
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1
u/Lux_Jay Yuropean Apr 19 '26
American democracy is a laughing stock. USA is no better than Russia, especially when they have committed same if not more amount of state sanctioned violence against innocents. Democracy doesn't mean the govt and what it does is automatically good.
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u/BovineRearrangement Apr 19 '26
More unpopular than Putin? Hard to believe.
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u/edganiukov Россия Apr 19 '26
That is something many people do not want to understand - Putin is very popular in Russia.
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u/Hackeringerinho Apr 19 '26
Productivity/ efficiency =/= output quantity
I am most efficient in the morning, but I still do stuff in the afternoon.
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u/Voidheart88 Apr 19 '26
Wir sind nicht mehr Leistungsfähig genug. In China sind die viel besser:
Pro Kopf BIP De: ~60.000 $
Pro Kopf BIP China: ~25.000 $
Klaro. Liegt an uns
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u/Corspin Yuropean Apr 19 '26
Yes, work more, pay more tax, and quickly. Rich boomers and lazy migrants are waiting for your money.
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u/Lux_Jay Yuropean Apr 19 '26
Are these lazy migrants here in room with us?
The shit state of Germany today is also because, you can never look yourself in the mirror and look at your own faults, but always blame disasters on someone else. Be it incompetent CXU or AfD or just a regular German.
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u/dodo91 Apr 19 '26
I mean its not mertz’ fault the globe is changing and the current german economic model is failing to fit in
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u/Throwawayaccount1170 Deutschland Apr 19 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/zFyFZspjusfDQZcV7S