I believe that Americans are overworking due to a combination of factors including motivation, peer pressure, and more work to complete overall. Motivating factors in this economy is to make as much money as possible to be able to live a decent life. School tuition is very high, so in order for people to be able to pay for higher education, whether it is for their children’s education or their own, they have to work more hours to have enough money to pay off tuition. Same concept goes for housing, food, phone bills, etc. – we live in a pricey world and you really need to have a six figure salary to really get by decently nowadays. Peer pressure may also be a contributing factor that Americans are working longer hours because they don’t want to be looked at as being “slackers” at work. Also, with all the downsizing companies are experiencing, an individual may be assigned more work to make up for the work that used to be covered by laid off employees.