18-Oct (CNBC) — From the German press to Stephen Colbert’s hit show on Comedy Central, Greece has been the butt of jokes throughout the financial crisis. The implication is always the same — that the Greek people are lazy and don’t like to work.

The stereotype makes Michalis Chrysochoidis, Greece’s minister of development and competitiveness, bristle.

…Greek workers put in longer hours than any other Europeans or Americans, according to a new report by McKinsey.

…Within the McKinsey report, however, there are two additional data points that explain why more hours worked by Greeks haven’t led to a growing economy.

First, Greece has the lowest labor participation rate in all of Europe — just 66 percent of the employable population have jobs, compared with 73 percent in the European Union and 70 percent in Southern Europe.

Second, not only are fewer Greeks working, those who do are far less productive: A Greek worker’s productivity comes in at $35 an hour, compared with $49 an hour in the EU, $55 an hour in Central Europe, and $58 and hour in the U.S.

Put it all together and it led McKinsey to one inescapable conclusion: “A relatively smaller percentage of Greeks work longer and harder hours than their European peers to support a generally unproductive system.”

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