Anyone who works hard and achieves something can build wealth: one in three young people apparently no longer believes in this, according to a current survey by the Styrian Chamber of Commerce. Chamber boss Josef Herk still doesn’t want to talk about lazy young people.
“Anyone who can count prefers to work part-time,” says Josef Herk, chairman of the Styrian Chamber of Commerce, quoting the provocatively sharp statement of an Austrian economist. The share of part-time work has been increasing for years, also among employees in Styria. For this reason, among other things, the Chamber of Commerce has taken up the performance issue and conducted a survey among the Styrian population and entrepreneurs.
“Youth are not lazy”
One of the most striking results: “96 percent of people over 61 consider performance to be the basis of our prosperity. However, this is only 64 percent among 18 to 25-year-olds,” Herk explains. This quickly brings to mind the general view that young people are lazy and do not want to achieve anything anymore. Herk contradicts this, but: “The belief that you can build wealth through performance is lost.”
How can this faith be restored? The Chamber of Commerce has started a demand campaign, with mainly well-known topics: lowering taxes on labor and reducing bureaucracy. “If you work full-time, you have to earn noticeably more. Otherwise, fundamental values in our society risk slipping away,” said the World Cup boss.
Less bureaucracy and taxes
The research among the Styrians supports these claims. Accordingly, both entrepreneurs and the population see the reduction of bureaucracy as a great incentive for better performance, but also as “more net or gross”. Third among the demands are more precise social benefits. Or put another way, it shouldn’t be too attractive to receive unemployment benefits instead of going to work.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
