I'm not just looking at salary, I'm saying that the perks that phillc73 was asking for (4-5 weeks annual leave, sick leave, parental leave) do not come cheap.
Not sure what the point of your reply is. I know lots of the EU perks are mandated. That's one of the things that makes Europeans have less take home pay than Americans (hence my comment "do not come cheap"). No value judgement here, US and western Europe are all democracies so these are the manifest choices of their citizens.