Michigan Employees Don’t Work Very Hard, Study Says

Hard work is always to be respected. Whether blue-collar or white, folks across the country deserve to make their fair share based on their work's value. That's about as American as an idea can be.

Of course, that's not always the case. "Quiet quitting" is a prevalent practice in the workforce today as wages fail to keep up with rising costs. In other areas, jobs are being replaced. Some jobs are easier than they've ever been while others are much more difficult.

So what determines a hard worker? Surely that looks different to people from different walks of life. For example, a construction worker would say my job is easy and that I don't work very hard. I would be pressed to agree because I've done both jobs. But someone else may say my job is hard because they don't consider themselves creative, don't like public speaking or don't have a knack for media production.

It's all relative. But a study from WalletHub looked to make sense of what is and isn't hard work and then rank each state in America by the hardest working. WalletHub primarily looked at direct work factors, things like employment rate and average workweek hours while also considering indirect factors such as commute time and volunteer hours.

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With those things in mind, Michigan was named the 4th least-hard working state in the entire country. Barely a point in the study separated Michigan from the least hard-working state, New Mexico. Michigan was more impacted by direct work factors, where it also ranked 4th-worst in the category.

This means Michigan faired poorly in the most important factors of the study such as how much Michigan employees work, a high number of households with no working adults, workers who use up their vacation time, workers who dislike their jobs and youth aged 18-24 who are neither enrolled in college or working.

If it is any consolation, Michiganders, Ohio also ranked quite low in the study as the 7th least hard-working state. Illinois also had a poor showing, landing at No. 11 for least hardworking. Indiana on the other hand was one of the harder working states in the midwest, landing at No. 22 for hardest working states.