West Germany: Work Is Not a Four-Letter Word

While other Europeans may excel in joie de vivre, the Germans find their joy in Arbeitslust — the seemingly insatiable desire to work, no matter what. That partly explains why West Germany's 26 million workers hardly ever strike, and why Germany's economy and currency have gained such envied strength. In Bonn, the Federal Statistics Office has reported that only 36 strikes occurred in West Germany last year. The number of striking workers was 25,167, of whom 23,836 walked off the job for less than a week, many for just a few hours. As a result, only 25,249 man-days of labor were lost.

The German totals were by far the lowest for any industrial country. By contrast, Britain had 2,362 strikes and a loss of 4,692,000 man-days, and the U.S. had 5,045 stoppages, which caused a loss of 49 million man-days.