Ticking away
The moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours
In an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground
In your hometown
Waiting for someone
Or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine
Staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun
This claim doesn't really pass the smell check for me - can you point to where you get the notion from? Checking the lists for average hours worked per year per worker, richer countries routinely have lower numbers than poorer countries.
Mostly it's for areas that aren't even in the developing category yet. Once you're developing you're talking about 9-5 work with less pay and benefits than in the West. But traditional work doesn't do office/factory hours. That means periods of lots of work and periods with little work where you live off the previous gains.