Because of the increase in unemployment after the unification of Germany the government there also reduced the working week. People thought this was a great idea right up until the millisecond they realised that this also meant they would be paid less. So now you have a situation where a swathe of people had their pay reduced, so that the lower tier of their humanity could hold down a job without competition. It's also far harder to have your job terminated in France or Germany than it is in most of the rest of the Western world.

So if you come from an American perspective where jobs are plentiful and temporary in your larger cities, and you only expect to hold them until you're fired, then imagine your world when you have more control than the company employing you. If they make the mistake of giving you a job and you don't measure up, their only realistic option is to move you somewhere you can't do any harm, and hope they do better next time. They can't actually fire you unless you set someone else ON fire <and> laugh about it, or you quit because the recommendation they gave you got you a better job. Then imagine your standard of living when the rest of the world is laughing at you because your employment legislation is preventing you from producing anything worth a damn. You're importing your clothes and cars from India and most of your TV is from 10,000 miles away. Welcome to Europe, welcome to your future.