[batista]

assuming an average work week of 5 days for both your brother and the average German truck driver, the German truck driver would have made €421,80*

How did you come to that number? Is it from extrapolation on the minimum wage? Because truck drivers don't get the minimum wage, they are compensated very well. This €420 would more likely be something like €1000 for a 5 week trip, or more.

Oh, an important distinction though is if the truck driver just drives the truck in some city (low normal wage), or if he's making cross-country and cross-europe deliveries (much much higher).

[franklindholm]

I used this link http://www.gehalt-tipps.de/Gehaltsvergleich/Gehalt/Lkw-Fahre... provided by thomasz. Then I took the average from all those reported wages which was €2,109.36/month, divided it by 20 (as this is the average work week for most employees even in the trucking business, and actually well regulated) and multiplied it by 4 as paganel said his brother had worked for 4 days ("he just came back from a 4-day") and earned €300. If the information provided by thomasz is correct or not, well I can't really judge it without more information, but to say that a German truck driver makes 5 times €300 in 4 days is just ridiculous any way you cut it. As a side note, the average truck driver in Sweden makes SEK23,000 that is about €2,600.

http://www.lonestatistik.se/loner.asp/yrke/Lastbilschauffor-...

[cschwarm]

I agree that paganel's comparison seems a bit exaggerated but note that there are non-wage labor costs here in Germany. Wikipedia reports 22 percent. A common rule of thumb is 30 percent, IIRC.

This means the total wage of the truck driver here would be about €511.30 for 4 days of work.

[franklindholm]

Most workers don't care about what the employer actually pays, most workers just take into account what is stated on their pay check. Most Swedes, when talking about wage, mention the statement before taxes, so for instance €2000 would equal something like €1400 after taxes. I think this is true for the german numbers as well, they are before taxation, but paganel mentioned that the €300 his brother made for 4 days of work probably wouldn't be taxed, so that is €300 in his pocket, as opposed to the German who would have to pay tax on his €420.

My personal opinion is that talking about wages and comparing them between countries is very difficult, many factors play into the equation; cost of living, food, energy, health care, taxes and so on are big components of this. My point was though, and still is, that claiming that a German truck driver makes €7500 in a 20 day period (which is five times what paganel's brother would have made if he had worked 20 days) is just ridiculous. I claimed earlier that I would quit my, in comparison to €7500, low paying IT job if that was the case, and I think I actually would.