>Another (interesting) snippet:
>
>A big reason for the difference is that paid time off is mandated by law in many parts of the world.
>
>Germany is among more than two dozen industrialized countries -- from Australia to Slovenia to Japan -- that require employers to offer four weeks or more of paid vacation to their workers, according to a 2009 study by the human resources consulting company Mercer.
>
>Finland, Brazil and France are the champs, guaranteeing six weeks of time off.

Years ago I worked for a company which hired a Belgian woman. More specifically, a Belgian knockout whose boyfriend was on the Belgian Olympic luge team. The owner of my company met her at a ski inn in the Alps and immediately hired her. But I do not know how to program, Christel said. That's all right, Charlie said. She never really did learn to program but the clients loved her. Anyway, it seemed that you are born with six weeks of vacation in Belgium. If it's only two weeks I may as well not even bother, she said.