Hard work is the key to success, and Americans understand this. A 2017 survey revealed that people in the United States work harder than any other nation's citizens.
On average, Americans work 1,783 hours per year, which is hundreds of hours more than the British, French, Germans, and even the Japanese.
"Statistics show that Americans work longer hours than the majority of other countries "” 137 hours per year more than Japanese, 260 per year more than in the UK," according to one recent study.
Even when given the chance to take a break, Americans prefer to continue working. About 52% of the working population didn't use all of their vacation days in 2017. While some people don't take time off out of fear they'll lose their job, others simply want to get ahead or don't want their coworkers to assume extra responsibilities.
This year, WalletHub decided to take a closer look at where the hardest working Americans live. Based on factors like workweek hours, number of jobs per person, and annual volunteer work hours per resident, the survey found that some states definitely put in a lot more effort than others.
Overall, Alaska is ranked at the top of the list with a total score of 69.54 out of a 100-point scale. The northern state also took the number one spot for highest average workweek hours, and made the top five for lowest average leisure time spent per day. Vermont came in first for the least amount of leisure time spent daily.
North Dakota, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska took the remaining spots in the top five.
Hawaii, which ranked 13th overall, came in first place for having the highest employment rate while Utah nabbed the number one spot for highest annual volunteer hours per resident.
The survey also looked at the idle youth rate in each of the states, and Iowa was found to have the lowest. Arkansas boasted the highest.
Of all the 50 states, Michigan, with a score of 28.94, was found to be the least hardworking, recorded the lowest average workweek hours and had the highest average leisure time spent per day. Rhode Island, West Virginia, New Mexico, and Oregon rounded out the bottom five.
Mississippi appears to have the lowest employment rate and Nevada clocked in the lowest annual volunteer hours per resident.
