An average worker in the countries bordering Slovakia spends considerably less time at work than a Slovak worker to satisfy their basic needs, according to a comparison published in March in the Czech weekly Ekonóm. The time an average Austrian worker spends at work to earn one liter of milk is only 15.2 percent of the worktime an average Slovak worker must invest into buying the same goods. Other Visegrád four countries follow: the Czech Republic (60.6 percent), Hungary (64.8 percent) and Poland (66.4 percent).
When it comes to buying a loaf of bread, Austrians are far ahead again with 13.3 percent of invested worktime compared to Slovaks. The Poles spend 38.5 percent, the Hungarians 68.1 percent, and the Czechs 74.1 of the worktime of an average Slovak. The Slovaks trail all their neighbors when it comes to buying potatoes, butter, coffee, or pork meat. On the other hand, the Slovaks beat the Czechs when it comes to a pack of cigarettes, they beat the Poles when it comes to a restaurant dinner, they beat both when it comes to a 100 kilometer train fare, and they beat everybody else when it comes to buying one kilowatt hour of electric energy.
