I would like to comment on the article published on your Web site dated July 23, 2007 titled "Balts among Europe's hardest workers." (http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/18333/)
I do not see the link between working hours of employees and productivity. Working hours are only statistics without any meaning if you don't see the output (productivity) as well.
My own experience as an entrepreneur is that Estonian employees are less productive than those in Western European countries. And that's not even mentioning ethics and attitude. That means that despite the longer hours the output is lagging behind that of other countries.
If you look at the productivity per employee statistics from Eurostat you can see the following for 2006:
EU-25 = 100
Estonia = 60.6
Latvia = 50.9
Lithuania = 56.5
Germany = 101.9
Netherlands = 109.9
France = 120.7
Luxemburg = 172.7
Conclusion: Balts may be the longest working people, but are definitely not the hardest workers!
