101–110 of 353 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reaching 50 years old, never got this American complaint about our salaries. The whole package is what matters. We work to live, not live to work.
I think Americans also are quite delusional about how low the European salaries are. Getting six figures in Europe isn't particularly hard anymore.
As much as I like my vacations, I would rather prefer US salary over it.
Does the US salary hold up against the benefits you get in a well-off EU country? Namely free healthcare, automatic payments into pension fund, strong social system if you're ever in trouble, etc.? It seems to me that, as high as US salaries are, they arent that much higher compared to European salaries when you factor all this in, plus the face that a month of that work youre paid for youre OOO
Of course, the societal benefit of strong social systems though aren't really comparable to an individual's benefits in my opinion if we're just asking where someone will be better off. Individually, I'm not sure what it's worth to me either, although there is some level of private equivalents through disability insurance etc., though it's certainly not as comprehensive I imagine. I don't know how the pension works exactly, but my impression is that it's something like a 401K retirement plan in the US, where you put in some portion and your employer also matches some contribution amount.
So I'm not sure the different in benefits makes up for the 136k gap.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. I live in a big European city. You basically don't need a car - pretty much anything within the city is reachable in about 30min, and public transit is comfy. Also, I have a public transit ticket that allows me to travel the entire country for a year, which only cost about 1000€. Yes, salaries are lower, but I also don't have to save anything to get my kids through university, or keep emergency funds for hea…
Parents have to pay for university in Europe unless they are poor. And while there are no fees, the costs are typically between 30k and 100k per child. edit: In Germany. I‘m German and I have studied there. I should know. edit2: Someone said this comment could be interpreted as the cost per year which is not the case. This is the total cost.
I am also there and I didn't pay any monies anywhere for university(unless you mean fancy private university?). All state universities are free and we only paid some misely amount every 6 months for the city-ticket(free access to all public transport in the city, cool stuff). Also, state pays each child ~125/month until they are 25.
I believe you are in some different parallel universe entirely O.o
I’m concerned about the 21% who don’t want a better quality of life. What’s going on with them?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Parents have to pay for university in Europe unless they are poor. And while there are no fees, the costs are typically between 30k and 100k per child. edit: In Germany. I‘m German and I have studied there. I should know. edit2: Someone said this comment could be interpreted as the cost per year which is not the case. This is the total cost.
There's no single policy that applies in all European countries. In a lot of countries there's no tuition fee (I live in one of them and went to university here), in some there's a token fee per year (a few hundred euros), and in some others students have to be fairly substantial tuition fees. Nothing close to the numbers you're quoting though. $10-20k per year is the highest I've ever heard of for public universitie…
I’m concerned about the 21% who don’t want a better quality of life. What’s going on with them?
The question is loaded and I guess 21% can think it through (or their company already gives them better).
Also, even the senior key people are often not really expected to answers emails during vacation. It might be different at the director level and above, but they're pretty much all workaholics anyway, so they don't mind.
> While the average American is lucky to get 11 vacation days WHAT? Does that count sick days as well, or is that a myth? Here in Germany, I get 30 vacation days per calendar year, plus any sick days, and thats fairly normal. Edit: Sure the absolute salaries here are lower, but the cost of living is vastly different and the social support structures and healthcare are different, too. That should definitely be kept in…
> Here in Germany, I get 30 vacation days per calendar year, plus any sick days, and thats fairly normal. Sick days are fairly normal, but "30 vacation days" is not. Only bigCo/large places offer 30(some offered 35 days too). Usual is 25(state normal) with +1-2 days extra at most places. However, sick leave is godsend, no denying.
> While the average American is lucky to get 11 vacation days WHAT? Does that count sick days as well, or is that a myth? Here in Germany, I get 30 vacation days per calendar year, plus any sick days, and thats fairly normal. Edit: Sure the absolute salaries here are lower, but the cost of living is vastly different and the social support structures and healthcare are different, too. That should definitely be kept in…
Exactly. I live in a big European city. You basically don't need a car - pretty much anything within the city is reachable in about 30min, and public transit is comfy. Also, I have a public transit ticket that allows me to travel the entire country for a year, which only cost about 1000€. Yes, salaries are lower, but I also don't have to save anything to get my kids through university, or keep emergency funds for hea…