[magduf]

>Different companies have quite different strategies and cultures. Some treat their employees much better than others.

Yes, but you can find clear trends when you look at different groups, such as American corporations vs. European ones, and if you do that, you can see that employees, on average, are treated much worse at American companies. While there are some success stories in America, such as Costco (which is pretty famous for paying and treating employees very well, considering the jobs there are generally low-skill and don't require college degrees), the American system rewards companies that don't treat employees well and they tend to do better when competing with companies that do.

[skybrian]

This is roughly my understanding as well, but when we start talking about averages and trends across many industries and countries, I think personal observations might not count for much. Very few people have that wide range of experience.