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Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

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Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#111
post #66

I worked for a Canadian company that's absolutely hemmoraging talent because they refuse to pay well. I'm now paid about 50% more to work remotely for a US company in an environment that is far far more fitting of my life goals of being with my kids as they grow up. It's beyond bizarre to watch them continue to refuse to pay anyone properly despite their imminent collapse.

It's bizarre. Even Amazon Seattle pays 2x the salaries of Amazon Vancouver, even although they are separated by only 200km and are the same company! I ask every Canadian developer I meet, why are you still here? I like living in Canada, so I work remotely even although I don't really like remote work. Instant 70% raise.

Is there any difficulty in working across the border like that? I work for a Canadian company due to having my roots here and find the thought of dealing with remote work in another country intimidating. Is it much hassle?

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#112
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My example comes from Greece where I reside for the past 9 months. People owning touristic buisnesses on the islands are moaning about how much they need more staff and can't find any, and they are arguing why younger people tend to not work and just receive benefits instead of going to work. The argument here that they won't understand though is that, 1st they are paying very low. They are all willing to pay the min…

Just a few notes: After a few years of full time employment I received a bit over 300 euro a month I believe, for a full year, when I was fired myself. And I believe the maximum amount of time where you can be eligible for unemployment benefits over here in Greece is a year or so. I believe a large cause for the apathy in people who you'd expect to work these jobs is the fact that working a job like that doesn't move…

> Now what's the dream for these workers? They can never afford to save up on their 500 euro a month. They can never get a loan to open their own business.

Work harder. Make more money if you want to do your own thing. Surely there are professionals in Greece making good money working as employees for others. What are they doing that the lazy uneducated worker is not?

Do more of that and less complaining that you're making 500 euro a month.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#113
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> you have to give away sometimes more than half of it Where? This is the tax in Germany for example: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/ES...

@rglullis: Well. There is social security, health care, retirement funds and there are taxes.

Well: I gladly pay health insurance in Germany instead of having an American system. Could it be better - hell yes. There is so much bullshit being paid for and so much in the system is made to extract money. But first: taxes are not the culprit here. And second: Pay for healthcare in the US yourself and see what system you like better. Esp if you get older.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#114
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average person spends almost exactly as much as they make as income rises. It's a hedonic treadmill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill

For anyone who hasn’t already, I would strongly suggest that you read/listen the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. It speaks of the “Rat Race”, where once you increase your income by a fraction, you almost immediately and subconsciously adjust your needs to absorb that increase. I think this is one of the books that everyone over the age of 15-17 should read as it gives a crash-course on the fine art of making money. This book,…

I have read this book and I would recommend as an alternative "The Richest Man In Babylon." It is more clearly a book of parables about building wealth and less about the route one person took to financial success.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#116
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> you have to give away sometimes more than half of it Where? This is the tax in Germany for example: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/ES...

Employer spends 4k€ on salary. Gross salary will be 3k€ (Bruttolohn) due to social security the employer pays for you. Net salary (Nettolohn) after taxes and your social security is 1850€.

This example is from 2010 back when I was a student. Since I only worked 6 monhts, I got back 300€ per month, so effectively received 2150*6 = 12,9k out of 24k paid by the employer.

Note that when you spend money, you'll most likely additionally pay 19% VAT, so out of your standard 1800€ another 324 are spent on VAT.

Hopefully you don't buy gasoline, electricity or products that are produced or transported using gasoline or electricity, because then the taxes paid will be higher.

;-)

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#117

Love it when people compile montages of article headlines that circulate every year to encourage the importation of more cheap labor. Here's a recent favorite byline: "America’s labor shortage is approaching epidemic proportions, and it could be employers who end up paying [their workers more]. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/the-us-labor-shortage-is-rea... Epidemic proportions!

>> and it could be employers who end up paying [their workers more]

What a bizarre statement. Who else would pay them more? And why is that framed like a bad thing?

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#118
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> you have to give away sometimes more than half of it Where? This is the tax in Germany for example: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/ES...

I'm curious, but you do know that there's other taxes than income tax, right?

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same in Estonia, some companies complain they can't find competent coders, and that we have to import from India...

Which is a joke because you have some damn good coders in Estonia. And the salary is even lower than in France.

Not to mention the fact that the good coders in India are pretty quick to leave India.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#120
post #50

yeah i work currently as contractor around 30 hours per month from home for Chinese company without any commuting anytime i want to cover expenses of my family on the other hand i could work 160-170 hours per month for local EU employer and get like double salary (a bit more with bigger retirement savings and paid vacation) somehow i am not rushing to get stable job and get employed locally to work five times more pl…

Same-ish, but I'm in rural Texas.

I work 30 hours a week for a US firm, working remote and finishing up raising my kid. I could probably multiply my income by 1.5, but I'd have to work 15 hours a week more and come into an office.

I've had several interviews with people but no one seems to understand how much they would actually have to pay me to come into an office because they are used to discounting the time spent commuting as if weren't time they should pay for; they think I am crazy for calculating that as time for which I should be compensated.

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