Colombia, the country where you get up early but not the most productive

A recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, revealed that Colombia is the country where people get up early. Nevertheless, there is no effect on productivity in the country’s economy.

(Read: Bank rate cuts aim to mitigate slowdown).

According to research by World of Statistics, on average, Colombians wake up at 6:31 in the morning. This is 24 minutes earlier than its closest competitors, like the Indonesians who wake up at 6:55 a.m.

By contrast, the profitability in the country is 19.50 dollars, around 92,100 Colombian pesos, for each hour worked. This happens even when Colombia has the longest working day, according to working hours, but also the least profitable.

“What these data reflect on the very low labor productivity in Colombia has to do, fundamentally, with the gaps in education and training for work.”, explained Sebastián Trujillo, analyst of global indicators for the OECD.

(Read: Railway network, the big bet in the infrastructure plan).

To the list of countries that are not as productive are others such as Mexico, South Africa, Costa Rica, Chile, Greece, Hungary, Portugal and Poland, according to the oecd

From another scenario, Canada is identified as one of the early risers in the worldsince his day begins at 7:33 am, but they work eight hours less a week than in Colombia. That is, 40 hours.

For his part, in Luxembourg work 40 hours a week and have a return of 110.80 dollars (approx. 522,000 pesos) per hour worked.

“Arriving as a diplomat it was a surprise to receive invitations to events that started at 7:00 am Unheard of where I came from. Good thing there’s good coffee to start early”, highlighted Erik Erik Høeg, Danish ambassador to Colombia.

According to the OECD, 24 countries have working hours of 40 hours per week or less. Among them are: Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and USA.

(See: Labor and pension reforms would be arranged against the clock).

The countries with the shortest working hours are Australia and Belgium, where they work 38 hours a week, and France, where they work 35 hours.

Currently, the Government is developing a bill, under the leadership of the Ministry of Labour, to reduce the work week by six hours. That is, go from 48 to 42 hours without impacting the payment of workers.

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