With the average full-time worker working only 33.1 hours a week, which is virtually the lowest on record, some 40 percent of the families currently on food stamps have "earned income, " the Financial Times reported.

CNN: Commentary: Panic anniversary no reason for joy

Contrast that with this startling statistic from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: as of 2010, the average time an American worker stays at a job is less than four and a half years.

FORBES: A Business Of One: 5 Strategies For Successful Freelancing

Around 40% of the network still uses outdated analogue technology. (Argentina, which privatised its phones in 1991, has an almost fully digital network.) That, plus equally outdated labour practices, has meant that Brazil's telecoms industry has an average of one full-time worker per 108 lines, less than half the productivity achieved in the United States.

ECONOMIST: A clear line from Brazil

At the time, the average female worker earned just 60 percent of the wage compared to their male co-workers.

FORBES: It's About Equal Pay, Not Binders And Opportunity

The IRS is considering coordinating standards with the Department of Labor to consider a full time employee to be a worker who is employed on average at least 30 hours of service per week.

FORBES: IRS Asks for Input on Health Care Law