per week – in the United States, 38.6 –
but these numbers also include many
part-time employees. In Austria, nearly
half of all women work part-time.
According to the OeGB (Austrian Trade
Union Federation) that can leave them at
risk of living on the edge. The best
protection against in-work poverty, the
Federation says, is full-time employ-
ment. Austria has among the most public
holidays in Europe (11 days), only one
more than in the U.S., but Austrian
workers add to that a minimum of five
weeks (25 workdays) of paid leave, some-
thing most Americans can only dream of.SPIRIT AND DRIVE
So individual Austrians work less, but
this is a mixed bag, with career disadvan-
tages and a potential reduction in social
benefits like pension or insurance.
“There is a huge difference between
reducing the working time of everybody
or of individuals,” says Flecker, who calls
for a shorter work week on a general
basis. This would help redistribute
compensation across all social groups,
and eventually lead to more compatibili-
ty between work and family life.
But hours worked tell you little about
work ethic or the value of work in
people’s lives. People are highly influ-
enced by their surroundings, and many
Austrians in New York say they find the
spirit there more inspiring than at home.
One of them is Lisa Silbermayr, from
Upper Austria, who grew up in Vienna.
Three years ago, she left Austria to study
at the School of Visual Arts in New York
and now works for an architectural firm
in Manhattan. She travels several times a
year for work, and when she comes back
she often has to fight with her human
resource department for comp time.
In fact, conflicts over hours are common
in the U.S.: When people are sick, for ex-
ample, it’s widespread practice to come
in to work for a couple of hours, and then
go home – nobody wants to waste one of
their ten sacred vacation days.
Once, when one of her coworkers had abreakdown, “hardly anyone reacted,
they just continued to work,” Silbermayr
remembered, disappointed by the lack of
social awareness. But she isn’t consider-
ing returning to Austria – she would miss
the drive and the positive spirit she has
experienced in New York.THE CREATIVE SUITE
Silbermayr is one of a group of creative
Austrians – journalists, photographers,
curators, museum administrators – who
hadn’t planned to stay in New York but
did. They stay despite harsher living con-
ditions that include far higher rents (in
Brooklyn, $1,000 per month is consid-
ered “cheap”), a lack of social benefits, the
faster pace of life nd more competition.
But those “cultural workers” don’t
reflect the general American population,
the permanent availability, the required
overtime, the serial unemployed or those
who, out of exhaustion, sleep on their
commute to Manhattan for one of their
three jobs.
“Comparing work ethic is difficult,”
says Flecker. “There are big differences
depending on the industry, the occupa-
tional group or the company.” There is no
specific research he can point to, only his
own experience and reports that some-
times conflict: One Austrian nurse found
Sweden much more relaxed than Austria,
while another described Swiss hospital
practice as continually “wasting time”
compared to the efficiency she was used
to in Austria.
But Austria is no bed of roses either, orIn Austria, the manufacturing sector
still employs 26% of all workers,
compared to a paltry 10% in the U.S.
Perhaps a contributing factor to
Austrians' lack of enthusiasm for
jobs in the service sector?“Comparing work ethic is difficult.
There are big differences depening
on the industry, the occupational
group or the company.”
Jörg Flecker, professor of sociology at the University of Vienna