[sentenza]

You are comparing the best the US has to offer with the standard for European employees.

Here in Germany, you have health insurance, no student debt, multi-month paid maternity/paternity leave, 30 days of vacation per annum, paid sick leave, multiple bank holidays.

Notice how I didn't specify a company or location?

Because this is the standard for every full-time employee in the whole country, irrespective of location or profession.

The German model has two draw-backs: Pay never reaches the levels in the US and it is relatively hard to land your fist job. Also, some gig economy jobs fall through the cracks.

For an honest comparison and a complete picture, you can't take a software engineer from SV and compare it to a software engineer from Berlin.

At least not just.

For a complete picture, you should also compare a software engineer from Boise to a software engineer from Düsseldorf. And a call center employee from Oklahoma with a call center employee from Mecklemburg-Vorpommern.

The ones who "made it" will always be better off in the US. But everybody else, not so much.

[RestlessMind]

If you want to compare worst or average of the US, why not compare it to the worst or average of Europe - say, Romania or Spain or Moldova or Greece? Why compare it to one of the best places in Europe?

Or, to use your words - the Germans will always be better off in Europe. But everybody else, not so much.

[raverbashing]

The EU is probably not as homogenous as the US, still, in Bucharest, yearly salary is 20kEUR (92kRON) for your average Sw Eng (not to mention cost of living would be low).

[peteretep]

Also in Germany you’re not going to get fired because your manager doesn’t like your face. And you’re unlikely to get incarcerated because a prosecutor doesn’t.

[adventured]

> You are comparing the best the US has to offer with the standard for European employees.

And you're moving goal posts by refocusing off of software developers and tech, an area where the EU and Europe badly lose to the US.

The median US software developer earns ~$110,000 this year before you get to any other compensation. That median employee (1.4m software developer jobs in the US) is not working in the bay area, NYC, or Seattle.

The US median software developer salary is over twice that of the EU. I haven't checked for an exact comparison but it's now probably close to twice that of a first tier EU economy like France, given how much higher incomes are in the US and how badly compensated software developers are in Western Europe. EU workers are also typically paying for their health insurance through high taxation.

That $110k employee is not paying for their health insurance via high taxation. The only argument there is that their corporate compensation could be even higher, maybe $125k-$130k per year, if the corporation didn't cover health insurance (shifting the burden to the employee).

The only work advantage an EU software developer has over the US, is the greater guaranteed time off from work. In exchange for that, they have far less economic upside potential and fewer jobs per capita available.

[Tainnor]

There's something else: work-life balance.

I've worked in a US company (in a German branch) and the work hours, late night meetings etc. they did in the US were insane to all of us. I can't say if this is typical or not, but from what I hear it is.

In Germany, people usually give their best effort... for 8 hours, then they go home and enjoy their free time (or family time, if they have one). Of course, sometimes emergencies happen and you stay longer, but this is seen as an exception. Worker protection is also very strong here, meaning that things like "on call duty without compensation" aren't even legal.

Also, if you're in the valley you might not be able to afford to live there, so you have to factor in commuting too. Commutes are generally much shorter in Europe and public transportation is also usually better.

Yes, it's true that you earn a lot more in the US, even factoring in health insurance, rent etc., and I agree that European (and in particular German) employers should be paying more (and salaries are already starting to rise significantly), but still, I wouldn't want to trade because in the end, money is not all that matters.

[Tomte]

While 30 days vacation is kind-of standard, the statutory minimum is 20, and I've had job offers fresh out of university where employers offered me only 26 days.

I knew that I could easily get another job offering the "standard" 30, but I'm sure that quite a few graduates fall into that trap.

[ido]

I've never gotten a job offering 30 days, neither in Germany nor Austria - I think more commonly it was about 25 days.

[IG_Semmelweiss]

you forgot a key fact.

Most EU students don't even get into the labor market until their late 20's (because the lack of jobs, erasmus etc).

In the US, it is not uncommon to see very young engineers making some serious money in their early career, due to accomplishments during their teen years.

So in effect, if you adjusted for age (not seniority or title) the gap in pay bet would be worse against EU.