Working for good looks

Making their customers prettier is the everyday life of hair dressers and make-up artists.

A closer look at this branch can be taken by using the Work Climate Index of the Chamber of Labour Upper Austria. Less than 10 percent of the workers are men, and more than two thirds have finished an apprenticeship. The companies are quite small, with only one in five having more than 10 employees. That structure makes it hard for organizing the workers. Only 8 percent are in the trade union, not even one in ten has a works council.

Only 5 percent of the employees are over 50 and only 50 of the workers think that they can work until retirement age. The satisfaction with the income is low.

Better conditions at the workplace and higher wages are important, to keep older employees in the workforce. This can only be achieved with a strong trade union.