Jeremy Browne will say that Britain has “many lessons” to learn from countries like South Korea as it tries to recover from the financial crisis.
In a speech in Seoul, Mr Browne will highlight the long hours worked by most South Koreans and call the country “an example to already developed countries like my own”.
In comments echoing William Hague’s controversial call at the weekend for Britain to “work harder”, Mr Browne will praise South Korea as the hardest-working country in the developed world.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the average South Korean works 2,193 hours a year, or 42.2 hours a week. In Britain, the figure is 1,647 hours, or 31.6 hours a week.
South Korea is “a model with many lessons for us to emulate,” Mr Browne will say.
“You export more than Britain, even though your economy is smaller than ours. The literacy and numeracy rates of your children are, by many measures, the best anywhere in the world. Your research and development is cutting edge and well supported. Your population is the hardest working in the OECD. And your government debt levels are low by international standards.”
Mr Browne will also highlight South Korea’s “astounding” record on education.
As well as having the highest-performing school pupils in the developed world, the Asian nation educates almost three-quarters of its people to post-graduate level,
“This is an amazing level of attainment which is underpinning your economic advance,” Mr Browne will say at Korea University.
Only by forming closer contacts with fast-growing, high-productivity countries like South Korea will Europe and the West recover, he will conclude.
“ It is well known that many Western economies are still suffering from the financial crisis and its aftershocks in the Eurozone. Levels of growth are low and levels of public debt and unemployment are high. I am convinced that getting our economies back on track requires us to be more outward-looking – to export more, to be more competitive – to invest in infrastructure and education, and to reduce government debt.”
