521–530 of 751 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I will ask citation on that one, as that's not my experience at all.
I can not find a quote because the numbers are hidden. But i am in an engineering school, i am in the top 10%, and it is true. There was even a note from the ministry this year asking engineering school to stop the mandatory semester in a foreign university for all engineering student, to try to reduce the drain.
Regarding French salaries again : yes they are lower than elsewhere but with some exceptions, French employers are not the problem : they do pay the same price for you as in other European countries, more or less ! The difference is that your average engineer in France costs them around 1.5-2.5 times the total take home pay, because of high, compulsory labor taxes. In exchange, employees get as standard : * a top not…
$130k in the US with paid health insurance, 2-4 weeks of vacation and dramatically lower taxes, vs. $50k in France with more 'benefits' and higher taxes.. Are those extra benefits worth $80k per year? Social charges really crush the ability for French companies to compete. Then with CDIs making it almost impossible to fire anyone, it results in a far less liquid job market. Now there's even talk of actually forcing m…
> $130k in the US [...] vs. $50k
Just no, a $130k salary in the US would be at least 70k€ in Paris. In others city it would probably be less but the cost of living would be much less too.
> there's even talk of actually forcing men to take paternity leave
Just because one organization (OFCE) ask for it 3 days ago doesn't make it a reality.
> even something as simple as getting business-class internet requires a SIRET number
I pay 30€/month for 1Gbits/250Mbs. If you need more than that, you're already a business and have a SIRET. Same for the phone line. I don't know about incorporation paperwork in the US but I did it alone in France and it was really not that hard. It took me a week max to get everything.
> Paris -- expensive, somewhat dirty, a dreadful public transport system
It's 73€/month, and half is paid by your employer for unlimited access to all transport in Île-de-France. Do you really find this expensive? Paris also provide the "best access to public transport in the world" according to some recent article. http://www.thelocal.fr/20161011/parisians-have-best-access-t... Yes some place are dirty but isn't that the case all over the world?
That said Paris is far from my favorite city in France. And as you said the job market is probably far less liquid than in the US because of the CDI. Even if I personally think that this is a good thing. In software development/operations there is still more jobs than applicant at least in Paris.
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> France can't even retain its own engineers. I confirm! Leaving the country = Best decision in my life :D
I've worked with a number of folks from France in Montreal and they all say the same kinds of things. I had chalked it up to some kind of national self-deprecation that is the pride and birthright of true French people :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I will ask citation on that one, as that's not my experience at all.
I can not find a quote because the numbers are hidden. But i am in an engineering school, i am in the top 10%, and it is true. There was even a note from the ministry this year asking engineering school to stop the mandatory semester in a foreign university for all engineering student, to try to reduce the drain.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I will ask citation on that one, as that's not my experience at all.
I can not find a quote because the numbers are hidden. But i am in an engineering school, i am in the top 10%, and it is true. There was even a note from the ministry this year asking engineering school to stop the mandatory semester in a foreign university for all engineering student, to try to reduce the drain.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
$130k in the US with paid health insurance, 2-4 weeks of vacation and dramatically lower taxes, vs. $50k in France with more 'benefits' and higher taxes.. Are those extra benefits worth $80k per year? Social charges really crush the ability for French companies to compete. Then with CDIs making it almost impossible to fire anyone, it results in a far less liquid job market. Now there's even talk of actually forcing m…
You make some good points, albeit most of them quite exaggerated. For example "almost impossible to fire anyone" : the up to 1 year trial period is pretty much hire-and-fire at will. After that, it's never too hard to fire a single employee. It's true that mass firings are quite heavily regulated though.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I will ask citation on that one, as that's not my experience at all.
I can not find a quote because the numbers are hidden. But i am in an engineering school, i am in the top 10%, and it is true. There was even a note from the ministry this year asking engineering school to stop the mandatory semester in a foreign university for all engineering student, to try to reduce the drain.
I am dubious because as mentioned by hiq above, you would need to wait much more than 2 years to figure out who are the "best". Another reason I am dubious is that working in France or at least in a French company is still the best way to climb the hierarchy fast when you're coming from X/Central Paris/ Mines de Paris/Telecom/etc... except for a few specific fields (finance comes to mind).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Other than GDP (which frankly benefits 5% of US population), everything is better in France. Better roads, better public transportation, high speed rails, healthcare, education. Even small and remote villages in France have high quality roads, rail connections etc. and doesn't look run down and entrenched in poverty.
GDP only benefits 5% of the population? Oh really. That doesn't sound right at all given the fact that the US median disposable income is far higher than France. Not to mention the median wage growth is four to five times faster in the US than in France. So much for your theory. Demographically France is about 80% white. The US median white household has an income of $73,000 as of 2016 ($108,000 with a college educat…
Did you subtract health insurance premiums, co-pays, and deductibles? Nowadays, for a family of 3 that could run around $500 out-of-pocket per month for employee premiums alone. And that's before adding employer-paid premiums, which are usually 80-90% of the entire premium cost, which could otherwise be going straight to employee pocket.
> I use the direct demographic comparison, because it would be absurd to compare an 8th generation French family to a first or second generation Latin American family in the US
And yet you're comparing a 5th generation New England family in the US to a first generation Lebanese family in France? OK then. And yes, Lebanese would be statistically white.
> The US has a superior university education system.
And a superior college debt system. Did you subtract college debt payments from your "median disposable income" as well by the way?
> The US is superior to France in:
Capitalism. Yes, US is indeed superior to France in that. Which is exactly what GP meant by benefiting 5%.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then maybe they should not exit the union? The brits have to come with all the answer, and can expect no help being given since they are the ones breaking up the relationship.
I cannot quite understand the thinking behind this comment (even if I'm in a country staying in the union). It appears that some people in the union want to retaliate to the British for wanting to leave the union and thus insulting the honour of Juncker et al. They are even ready to shoot their own foot in retaliation, instead of just accepting that Britain leaves and life goes on, and new agreements are made, and tr…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In other words, healthy educated engineers with no children who are motivated to work need not apply.
Or quite the opposite? These engineers may find once migrated (especially after a few years, ie slightly older) that the option of having children not to be burden in such a system, might find the safety net of not worrying about health and insurance increase their ability to focus on being productive instance of simple grinders, especially if well educated and motivated.