One of the unfortunate things that the Greek economic crisis has revealed is that an underlying form of stereotyping between the peoples of Europe is well and alive.

The Greeks are those ‘lazy’, ‘ouzo-drinking’ ‘profligate’ people who want to live off the hardworking Germans’ money for free. The Germans, on the other hand, are “robots” of the ‘Nazi IV Reich’ and want to subjugate the rest of Europe.

The moral card was one played quite effectively by some of the more sensational German media throughout the Greek debt crisis over the last 5 years. However, when someone examines the hard facts about monthly work hours, one might be surprised.

According to 2013 OECD data on the hours of work per country, Germans look more like the Greeks portrayed in their media and the Greeks like the Germans! The data shows that the Germans work fewer hours than all the OECD members with 1,363 hours per year, while the Greeks work on average came in third on the list (2,060 hours) after Mexico and Korea, which took the top spots.

Of course, the “quality of work” factor is not included in the study or the “value added” component of offered services and produced goods.