[MHard]

I think it should be obvious that unions are not the only factor contributing to salaries.

For instance: Average salary for tech in Germany is roughly twice as high as in Spain, even though they are working in the same market zone and have comparable workers protection. Though there are some differences in fiscal policy like for instance Vat tax (Spain 21% for service industry, Germany 19%).

I believe the main reason why the USA have such a high salary in comparison is because of a few factors: Most importantly a huge zone speaking one single language that by now is spoken throughout the world, leading to a much bigger initial market, thus making it easier to create start ups and selling your goods. So you can easily invest in R&D.

Additionally, silicon valley is home to huge monopolies/duopolies like Google, Apple, Intel etc. And while these might hurt competition and the market as a whole, they also increase the demand for labour in the US.

Another contributing factor, though I don't have any numbers to back it up is that higher education is a privilege in the US whereas in Germany it is a commodity.

[save_ferris]

Don’t forget about access to capital. The relative ease of raising rounds in the US compared to Europe due to the more concentrated networks of investment capital pushes salaries up because startups need to hire ASAP to build their product.