[briandear]

That logic makes no sense. Since health isn’t an employer cost, salaries in Europe should be higher than the US where the employer incurs health/social costs. However, in France “social charges” are incurred by the employer which means that their cost per employee is about double of their actual salary. That means that French employers are paying social charges which finance those who aren’t employed.

In the US:

An employer pays salary + health costs for that employee.

In Europe:

Employer pays salary + health costs for both the employee AND the rest of society. Which means your European salary is subsidizing other people not even related to the company.

On top of that, the employee gets to pay tax rates approaching 50% in many cases.

The average take home pay after factoring out health costs and benefits is dramatically lower than an equivalent position in the US.

[shanwang]

Health care isn't the reason for the pay gap. The technology sector in Europe is far smaller than those in the US, these days there isn't a single tech company in the EU can rival those tech giants in the US, so the pay gap makes sense.

If you are a banker or a hedge fund PM working in London, your pay will be on par with or even more than your colleagues in New York.