Much has been made of how we U.S. consumers lived beyond our means, borrowing too much during the last expansion. Now, deleveraging is holding back spending.

But one economist argues the adjustment may not be as big a brake on spending as many assume and that the reason for consumer caution may lie elsewhere — namely in the jobs market. At the very least, when it comes to debt, we weren’t as bad as the Danish.

“In my view, it is an urban myth that U.S. consumers have ‘too many cars and too many flat screen TVs’ and now they have to go through a major adjustment,” says Torsten Slok, director of global economics at Deutsche Bank.

Slok backs up this controversial view with data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which form the basis of his research. He calculated household debt ratios, the level of debt as a ratio to disposable personal income in 16 nations.

For sure, the numbers show that U.S. households did sink deeply into hock from 2001 to 2007: the ratio rose from 105% to 138% — a record high for the years covered by the OECD data.

Americans, however, look downright frugal compared with borrowers in some other countries not typically associated with credit-card-wielding squanderers: the ratio in Denmark hit about 320%, and it was close to 250% in the Netherlands in 2007, according to Slok’s calculations.

One reason for the high readings is that the Danish and Dutch have much higher marginal income tax rates — above 50% — than the U.S. — where it’s around 35%. Higher tax rates yield less disposable income.

Another reason — which again flies in the face of conventional wisdom: U.S. households have a lower share of assets in housing than many other countries. According to Slok’s calculations, housing bubbles — measured as the ratio of home prices to income — were much higher in France and Italy than in the U.S.

That’s not to deny that some households got in way over their heads over the past decade. Moreover, the income and wealth losses during the recession caused even thrifty consumers to run into trouble. That’s why bankruptcies so far this year are running about 13% ahead of last year’s comparable figure.

U.S. consumers are still cutting back on debt: According to Federal Reserve data, they spent 12.5% of their disposable income on debt servicing in the first quarter of 2010–but that’s down from the record of nearly 14% hit in the first quarter of 2008 and is very close to the average of 12.1%.

All that serves to justify Slok’s claim that U.S. households are in better financial shape than widely assumed.

That in turn points to reasons other than a debt stranglehold for consumers’ reticence, putting the spotlight on jobs and income growth instead.

In that regard, Thursday’s news on jobless claims was a step backward. Claims unexpectedly increased by 19,000 in the last week of July to 479,000, the highest level since early April. The jump suggests businesses are not done with layoffs as a way to cut costs.

That was also the take-away from the latest job cut tally by Challenger Gray & Christmas. The report said companies announced plans to shed 41,676 workers in July, 6% more than reported in June. It was the third consecutive monthly gain in announced job cuts.

Economists still expect Friday’s employment report to show an overall loss of 60,000 jobs, with private business increasing payrolls by about 100,000 in July, similar to the modest monthly average of 2010’s first half.

If new jobless claims remain near 500,000 in coming weeks, however, it means labor markets are weakening this month. August private payrolls could be rising slower than even the tempered pace of the first half.