A beer only costs 5 minutes of labor, because USA is No. 1

In these dark economic times, it’s good to finally see a statistic where America is leading the world. As it turns out, we have to work the shortest amount of time to be able to buy a beer. The Economist has just published a study by the Swiss bank UBS that divided the retail price for 500 ml (just over a pint) of beer in 30 countries across the globe by the median hourly wage of that country. The study found that the average American has to work for just over five minutes to afford their suds. USA! USA!

The average of all the countries surveyed was 20 minutes with workers in India bringing up the rear by having to spend almost an hour’s wages on a beer. The study, of course, doesn’t get into whether beer consumption affects work productivity at all. While it may not be the economic news we were hoping for, it may just be enough to let us go out and celebrate a little. Click on the chart below to read it all:

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