„Is it worth the pay?“ – A German short film series about pro­fes­si­ons & money.

The short film series ‘Lohnt sich das?‘ (Is it worth the pay?) by Bayrischer Rundfunk (BR) offers support to teenagers and young adults in their future career choices, from glaziers to auditors, and entices viewers with the central question: How much do you actually earn?

From today’s per­spec­ti­ve, the idea of com­mit­ting to pro­fes­si­on and working in this pro­fes­si­on — perhaps even in one and the same company — for the rest of one’s working life may no longer be quite so realistic. Nevertheless, choosing a career is still an important deve­lo­p­men­tal task for ado­lescents and young adults who are con­si­de­ring their pro­fes­sio­nal future (Steinmann & Maier, 2018). If, in this context, pro­fes­sio­nal work is seen as a central ‘axis of lifestyle’ (Beck, 1986), which consumes a signi­fi­cant part of a person’s life, then it becomes all the more important that the pro­fes­si­on should ideally create meaning, open up material oppor­tu­nities and enable social iden­ti­fi­ca­ti­on (Aßländer & Wagner, 2017).

The world of pro­fes­si­ons is extremely diverse and it can be chal­len­ging to find the pro­fes­si­on that pays off in the long-term and choose the appro­pria­te edu­ca­tio­nal pathway. For this reason, publicly funded careers infor­ma­ti­on advice has long been estab­lis­hed as a fun­da­men­tal tool. Notably, career infor­ma­ti­on and its dis­se­mi­na­ti­on has changed over the years with the deve­lo­p­ment of the media: From the film projector, the VHS to the Instagram reel; from career booklets to online portals, such as the career infor­ma­ti­on system of the AMS in Austria (AMS, 2024) or the BERUFENET infor­ma­ti­on portal of the Federal Employ­ment Agency in Germany (Bun­des­agen­tur für Arbeit, 2024). In German-speaking countries in par­ti­cu­lar, careers guidance films have always been produced by public broad­cas­ters to fulfil their mission of providing edu­ca­tio­nal content. These include the short film series ‘Lohnt sich das?’ (Is it worth the pay?) by BR.

The series was launched in 2020 and still features a large number of videos that can be viewed via the ARD media library and the respec­ti­ve YouTube channel. In each short film, a pro­fes­si­on is presented in 10 to 15 minutes by a member of said pro­fes­si­on. Viewers are given the oppor­tu­ni­ty to accompany them through a working day and gain an insight into typical work tasks and processes as well as chal­len­ges and success stories. Recurring elements in the episodes are the defi­ni­ti­on of the respec­ti­ve person’s pro­fes­sio­nal pathway, a rough com­pa­ri­son of their expenses and monthly income, as well as a final answer to the question ‘Is it worth it?’. In this way, the short films aim to con­scious­ly address the topic of wages, what they are spent on and whether they are enough to live on (BR, 2020). This clearly sets the series apart from similar earlier series, in which monetary and social aspects were either deli­ber­ate­ly excluded or simply neglected.

The title may suggest that financial aspects take centre stage, but this is not necessa­ri­ly the case. Instead, the short films portray both academic pro­fes­si­ons and appren­ti­ce­ships in an enter­tai­ning and succinct way without over­sim­pli­fy­ing them – real people with real jobs. As viewers, we observe them not only at work, but also in their everyday lives. In one film, for example, we get to know Nando, a digital social worker, in his home (and home office), who works on platforms such as Reddit, Instagram and Twitch in order to advise and engage with young people as closely as possible. Nando per­so­nal­ly relates to par­ti­cu­lar­ly chal­len­ging situa­tions, for example when it comes to coping with loss. In this way, he tells a touching story about the loss of a beloved family member, which he recently had to go through himself. In another film, we meet recep­tio­nist Ani, who gives us the oppor­tu­ni­ty of accom­pany­ing her as she does her voluntary work after a day’s work in a hotel. She teaches children Armenian so that they don’t forget their mother tongue. In the lesson shown, the children learn the names of fingers and colours through play. For Ani, this is not about the money, but about the child­ren’s learning progress and enjoyment.

Due to their succinct nature, the films don’t claim to provide com­pre­hen­si­ve infor­ma­ti­on about job profiles. For me, their added value lies in the fact that they candidly provide an intro­duc­tion to the fasci­na­ting world of pro­fes­si­ons. They do this by addres­sing a seemingly simple question that should not only be of interest to people in their career choice: What does a postwoman, a flight attendant, a glazier, a kitchen manager, a primary school teacher, a librarian, a bakery shop assistant, an app designer etc. actually do and how much do they get for it? The rough insight into income and expen­dit­u­re in each episode satisfies the viewers’ curiosity to a certain extent, but the figures can only be gene­ra­li­sed to a limited extent and depend heavily on the indi­vi­du­al cir­cum­s­tan­ces of each person. Even more inte­res­ting is to see how different one and the same simple question, ‘Is it worth it?’, can be answered.

Dr Hoang L. Nguyen is a lecturer in social work and adult education at SRH Fern­hoch­schu­le. He teaches and rese­ar­ches topics in voca­tio­nal training, adult education/further education and social work.

Refe­ren­zen:
AMS (2024). Berufs­in­for­ma­ti­ons­sys­tem. https://bis.ams.or.at/bis/index.php. (accessed 18.12.2024.)
Aßländer, M. S. & Wagner, B. (2017). Ein­füh­rung: Arbeit und Phi­lo­so­phie. In M. S. Aßländer & B. Wagner (Hrsg.), Phi­lo­so­phie der Arbeit. Texte von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart (S. 11–26). Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag.
Beck, U. (1986). Risi­ko­ge­sell­schaft. Auf dem Weg in eine andere Moderne. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag.
BR (2020). Aus­zeich­nung für Reportage-Format. BR freut sich über Bremer Fern­seh­preis 2020 für “Lohnt sich das?”.  https://www.br.de/presse/inhalt/pressemitteilungen/bremer-fernsehpreis-lohnt-sich-das-100.html. (accessed 18.12.2024.)
Bun­des­agen­tur für Arbeit (2024). BERUFENET.  https://web.arbeitsagentur.de/berufenet/. (accessed 18.12.2024.)
Steinmann, B. & Maier, G. W. (2018). Berufs­wahl. In A. Lohaus (Hrsg.), Ent­wick­lungs­psy­cho­lo­gie des Jugend­al­ters (S. 223–250). Berlin, Hei­del­berg: Springer.