I have a cultural interview due, and I need some info from someone outside the USA for my Sociology class.?

Question

I need to know what city and country you are from, and ask a few questions about work practices. What types of jobs are most common? Are there laws to protect the workers? Are there labor unions? What are some of the main concerns of the workforce (pay, job security, safety, layoffs)? At what age do most people get their first job? Doing what? At what age are people expected to support themselves? Does this depend on the gender of the person? Also, tell me some information about schooling (At what age do you graduate? Does the educational system prepare you for working? At what age do you graduate college?) Thanks so much, this is an assignment for my Sociology class, so feel free to go into a lot of detail!

Answer 1

- I need to know what city and country you are from:
innsbruck, austria, europe

- what types of jobs are most common:
tourism and agriculture in the west, industry and corporate marketing and sales in the east

- are there laws to protect the workers:
yes there are

- are there labor unions:
yes there are

- what are some of the main concerns of the workforce:
loosing their jobs due to globalization and immigrants that are willing to work for a lower pay

- at what age do most people get their first job:
15, serving an apprenticeship or if they still go to school a job during the summer holidays

- doing what:
labour conditions are severe, so they'll do anything... at the moment there are about 80-140 applications per job...

- at what age are people expected to support themselves:
18, depending if they go to university after high school or not

- does this depend on the gender of the person:
no

- at what age do you graduate:
in austria it is compulsory to go to school for 9 years, so the ones that decide to serve an apprenticeship stop going to school at the age of 14, the ones that go to school finish 18-20

- does the educational system prepare you for working:
in austria there are two different types of schools: high schools that are specialized in general education (they prepare people to go to university) and high schools that are specialized in vocational education (they prepare people to work)

- at what age do you graduate college:
there are no colleges in austria, only universities, so it all depends on how long it takes for the students to finish their studies, as all students self-organize their studies, meaning that there is no yearly based curriculum fixed by the universities, it's the students that fix their own personal time schedules for the tests and so on... for example: if one studies medicine, the minimum duration of study for a Ph.D is 6 years, the average is 10 years, if one studies business administration, the minimum duration of study for an MBA is 4 years, the average is 7. i'd say the average student finishes university at 28-30

hope this helps you out - but of course, my answers aren't representative for austria as a whole, you'd need more austrians to answer ;)

Answer 2

1. Toronto, Canada
2. I think that blue collar jobs are most common.
3. We do have many labour unions, reflecting many different sectors in the GTA(Greater Toronto Area)
4. Layoffs in the manufacturing sector is a big concern, job security is another big issue.
5. I started working when I was 15 as a telemarketer.
6. I was expected to buy my own clothes and other things when I started working at 15. My brother had everything given to him until he started working at 20, and even then, my mom still bought his clothes and things. So i definitely think gender has a role.
7. I graduated from high school at 18, college at 24. High school does not prepare you for working at all. In Toronto, there are not enough programs for students to be streamed into apprenticeship/trade programs. It's either university, or McDonald's.

Cheers.