This is crazy to read. I live in what you consider a highly authoritarian and non-free society and can't imagine something like this happening here. Lower paid jobs are even more privileged in some ways: for example, in many companies you can just not show up for work for a couple of days if you feel like it, and the worst thing you can expect is a small pay cut at the end of the month.
It will really vary. Most places I've worked, even in lower paid jobs in my later teens, they're pretty lenient and understanding with personal/sick time.
I have found, between the span of $8/hour and $88,000/year, that the amount of tracking (and also the amount of "if you have time to lean you have time to clean"-type busywork) is very close to inversely proportional to income in the US.
