Homework Problem #$1$

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Homework Problem $1$:

Andreas Drauschke and Angie Clark work comparable jobs for comparable pay at

department stores in Berlin and suburban Washington, DC$.$ But there is no comparison

when it comes to the hours they put in$.$ Mr$.$ Drauschke$$s job calls for a $37-$hour week

with $6$ weeks$$ annual vacation. His store closes for the weekend at $2$ p$.$m$.$ on Saturday

afternoon and stays open one evening each week$-$a new service in Germany that Mr$.$

Drauschke detests. $$I can$$t understand that people go shopping at night in America,

says the $29-$year$-$old, a supervisor at Karstadt, Germany$$s largest department store

chain. $$Logically speaking, why should someone need to buy a bicycle at $8$:$20$ p$.$m$.?$

Mrs$.$ Clark works at least $44$ hours a week, including evening shifts and frequent

Saturdays and Sundays. She often brings paperwork home with her, spends her days

off scouting the competition, and never takes more than a week off at a time. $$If I took

any more, I$$d feel like I was losing control,$$ says the merchandising manager at J$.$C$.$

Penney.

While Americans often marvel at German industriousness, a comparison of

actual workloads explodes such national stereotypes. In manufacturing, for instance,

the weekly U$.$S$.$ average is $37\mathrm{.}7$ hours and rising; in Germany, it is $30$ hours and has

fallen steadily over recent decades.

The German department store workers also fiercely resist any incursions on

their leisure hours, while many J$.$C$.$ Penney employees work second jobs and rack up $60$

hours a week. Long and irregular hours come at a price, however. Staff turnover at the

German store is negligible; at J$.$C$.$ Penney, it is $40\%$ a year. Germans serve

apprenticeships of $2$ to $3$ years and know their wares inside out. Workers at J$.$C$.$ Penney

receive training of $2$ to $3$ days. And it is economic necessity, more than any devotion to

work for its own sake that appears to motivate most of the American employees.

Mr$.$ Drauschke has a much different view: Work hard when you$$re on the job and

get out as fast as you can. A passionate gardener with a wife and young child, he has

no interest in working beyond the $37$ hours his contract mandates, even if it means

more money. $$Free time can$$t be paid for,$$ he says.

The desire to keep hours short is an obsession in Germany$-$and a constant

mission of its powerful unions. When Germany introduced Thursday night shopping in

$1989,$ retail workers went on strike. And Mr$.$ Drauschke finds it hard to staff the extra $2$

hours on strike. And Mr$.$ Drauschke finds it hard to staff the extra $2$ hours on Thursday

evening, even though the late shift is rewarded with an hour less overall on the job.

Mr$.$ Drauschke, like other Germans, also finds the American habit of taking a

second job inconceivable. $$I already get home at $7.$ When should I work?$$ he asks. As

for vacations, it is illegal$-$yes, illegal$-$for Germans to work at other jobs during vacations,

a time that $$is strictly for recovering,$$ Mr$.$ Drauschke explains.

At J$.$C$.$ Penney, Mrs$.$ Clark begins the workday at $8$ a$.$m$.$ Though the store

doesn$$t open until $10$ a$.$m$.,$ she feels she needs the extra time to check floor displays

and schedules. Most of the sales staff clock in at about $9$ a$.$m$.$ to set up registers and

restock shelves$-$a sharp contrast to Karstadt, where salespeople come in just moments

before the shop opens.