“I doubt there is ANY part of the Earth that boasts such a work ethic as Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Finland.”
In no way, form, or fashion should Norway be included in this grouping.
Hours worked per year
Norway: 1360
Germany: 1437
Belgium: 1534
Demmark: 1540
France: 1546
Sweden: 1587
Ireland: 1638
Finland: 1714
Australia: 1730
Japan: 1775
United States: 1841
Poland: 1994
On an average day, about 25 percent of Norway’s workers are absent from work, either because they have called in sick, are undergoing rehabilitation or are on long-term disability. The rate is especially high among government employees, who account for half the work force.
The average amount of time people were absent from work in Norway in 2002, not including vacations, was 4.8 weeks. Sweden, its closest competitor, totaled 4.2 weeks, while Italy came in at 1.8 weeks and Portugal at 1.5 weeks, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Throw in vacation time (five weeks for most people), national paid holidays (11 per year) and weekends, and Norwegians take off nearly half the calendar year, about 170 days, a figure that does not include time off for disability and rehabilitation, according to Bergens Tidende, the newspaper that made the calculations. Long-term disability leave, up 20 percent since 1990, is growing at an even faster rate than sick leave.
There are few penalties for chronic absenteeism. Most people who take sick leave receive 100 percent of their pay for a year, though the level dips to 60 percent in the second year under a job rehabilitation program. Few employees get fired, but, if they do, unemployment benefits are generous.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E5DF143DF936A15754C0A9629C8B63
In France, most employees work 6 hours a day, in Norway the norm is 8 hours.
On top of this, Norwegians, especially people working in the oil, fishing and shipment businesses often work overtime a lot.
Few French would claim they work as hard as people do in the Nordic countres and this also is the reason why they are poorer, not the fact that Norway has oil, Sweden has iron ore or Denmark has mermaids.