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Ask HN: Why do companies outside the US pay so much less?

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Re: Ask HN: Why do companies outside the US pay so much less?

#61

Post by pmcpinto »

sigi45 wrote: post #55

I don't really care how much someone in USA earns. As a software engineere in germany you are earning good money. There are no killings in cities, affordable health care, high quality living standards, university costs 150$ for 6 month, no donald trump, 30 days real holiday (i take them, everyone does, every year), seldom over hours, parental leave. Btw. IT is more than google, apple, facebook and twitter. And no we…

I agree, in most part of Europe is possible to live better with less, compared with USA.

I think it's a bit insane that a lot of companies in USA doesn't allow parental leave, pressure employers to don't take any vacations, etc etc

Re: Ask HN: Why do companies outside the US pay so much less?

#62

Post by rev_bird »

schmichael wrote: post #33

I'm in the US and a friend just moved to The Netherlands to accept a much lower paying job. He swears he has more disposable income due to cheaper health care, Internet, transportation (no car required!), etc. The basic assertion being that the cost of living is higher in the US. I would love to see salary vs cost-of-living comparisons globally. I suspect this might account for the disparity, but I'm afraid I don't h…

Is/was your friend an American citizen? I've been fascinated by emigrating to Europe for a long time and am always looking for stories about how people pull it off.

Re: Ask HN: Why do companies outside the US pay so much less?

#63

Post by thehardsphere »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #24

I suspect a partial cause from right-to-work laws. It's much harder to fire an employee in Europe, so companies are less willing to bid on employees, and so compensation is lower. Plus the employees themselves value the job security, which substitutes for wages when evaluating offers. For specific predictions from this model: 1. Public-sector programmers in general should get paid less than private-sector programmers…

California, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington do not have right-to-work laws, yet software salaries in SF, Boston, New York, and Seattle are among the highest in the world. If that were the cause, Austin, TX should become the high-pay Mecca that every programmer would migrate to, because Texas is a right-to-work state.

Re: Ask HN: Why do companies outside the US pay so much less?

#64

Post by TulliusCicero »

droopyEyelids wrote: post #18

I haven't heard anyone suggest that overall demand for developers is higher in the USA. The US has more companies that can see how to make more money off tech talent.

The latter implies the former. What do you think demand is?

Re: Ask HN: Why do companies outside the US pay so much less?

#65

Post by madarco »

The main reason seems to be linked to the cost of living: salaries in EU are lower only numerically. 50K€ have the same purchasing power of 150k$ in SF (EU devs pay rent, a car, savings, have holidays, etc.)

However the really STRANGE thing is that only a few USA companies exploit that by hiring EU devs for remote working. (ie: paying only 30% of a USA salary for an almost as good developer)

Re: Ask HN: Why do companies outside the US pay so much less?

#66

Post by eb0la »

There is a chart in Piketty's book, Capital in the 21st century, a that shows GDP PER CAPITA for several countries, including the US.

I guess US companies pay well because their share of the global GDP is higher (although it is decreasing slowly from he peak in the 50s).

Before seeing that I just thought it was that way because the US makes stuff (now intellectual property not physical goods), thus making profit of whatever is produce outside its borders.

Re: Ask HN: Why do companies outside the US pay so much less?

#68

Post by FennNaten »

rb808 wrote: post #52
FennNaten wrote: post #51

Hum, I don't know how the system works in the US, but in France a lot of money is taken from the salary to cover for health insurance, unemployment insurance and retirement plan. Plus we have 5 weeks paid vacation automatically included. And I think cost of life is lower than in the US, even in Paris which is the more expensive area. To go with numbers, I currently earn 50k€ per year (gross), which makes for 3k€ per…

In NYC a decent 2 bed apartment in second tier areas (ie not in Manhattan) is 3k€ a month, I'm surprised Paris is cheaper.

Depends on what you call decent and how far from the center you go. I'm currently outside of Paris, having 15 minutes on foot plus 15 minutes on train plus 15 minutes in Subway to go to work. I share a large two bedrooms flat (73 square meters) with a friend, and my share is 700€. (this includes water, electricity, heating, garbage collection and unlimited internet connection) Sure if you insist on having a big flat right inside Paris it may go up to 3k, but if you tolerate commute time you can find better rates.

Re: Ask HN: Why do companies outside the US pay so much less?

#69

Post by schmichael »

rev_bird wrote: post #62
schmichael wrote: post #33

I'm in the US and a friend just moved to The Netherlands to accept a much lower paying job. He swears he has more disposable income due to cheaper health care, Internet, transportation (no car required!), etc. The basic assertion being that the cost of living is higher in the US. I would love to see salary vs cost-of-living comparisons globally. I suspect this might account for the disparity, but I'm afraid I don't h…

Is/was your friend an American citizen? I've been fascinated by emigrating to Europe for a long time and am always looking for stories about how people pull it off.

Originally English/Dutch, so that simplified moving.

Re: Ask HN: Why do companies outside the US pay so much less?

#70

Post by RandomBookmarks »

rev_bird wrote: post #62
schmichael wrote: post #33

I'm in the US and a friend just moved to The Netherlands to accept a much lower paying job. He swears he has more disposable income due to cheaper health care, Internet, transportation (no car required!), etc. The basic assertion being that the cost of living is higher in the US. I would love to see salary vs cost-of-living comparisons globally. I suspect this might account for the disparity, but I'm afraid I don't h…

Is/was your friend an American citizen? I've been fascinated by emigrating to Europe for a long time and am always looking for stories about how people pull it off.

This is rather easy for the typical HN crowd. For example, to get a working visa for Germany (Blue card) you "only" need to find a job that pays more than 50000 Euro/year. In a nutshell, that is all.

http://www.bamf.de/EN/Infothek/FragenAntworten/BlaueKarteEU/...

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