[namdnay]

You're comparing salaries with consulting rates, there are bigger differences than pension contributions. Salaries are low in France in big part because of all the advantages that come with it - near total job security, maternity/paternity rights, sick pay etc

[sam_lowry_]

And a 35 hours work week.

[Yiofir]

35 hours work week doesn't exist for engineers in France. We are "Cadre forfait jours" which mean we are paid by days, not by hours. Typically an engineer works from 9am to 6pm. A 45 hour work week.

[KptMarchewa]

Then we have better in Poland. I work till 6PM, but from 10AM and have a paid lunch inside. I know no one who works 9h regularly.

[namdnay]

but with extra days off to compensate (the famous RTT). this is france, after all ;)

[touisteur]

Those RTT, 15 additional days off really put the squeeze on hourly productivity. The French workforce that I knew, seems to have fiercely changed since then.