I can testify, being from the Chinese Province of Taiwan, that relatives and their friends that are in business have indicated that in their view, unit labor costs are much higher in Spain than in Germany. Many of them have invested in busineses across Europe and have indicated that work ethic in Spain is a good deal worse than in places like Germany. It does not come down to the number of hours worked but the overall attitude toward work. They were not able to comment on Greece given they have not done business there but based on what they have heard it is even worse over there. Of course the work ethic in USA is significantly better than all of Europe including Germany.
Maybe you haven't heard this yet in the 'Chinese province' of Taiwan, but generalizing glibly on other nationalities 'work ethic' is considered borderline racist in the American state of 'the West'. Aside from this minor observation, even if we assume that your generalization is true, it is too much 'work ethic' which is the problem! Germans, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Americans need to adopt Spanish lifestyle if we are to ever get out of this mess.
Or simply adopt 25 hour work week.
