[davidw]

That's the takehome pay - there are pretty high taxes, so the total that the company is paying might be much higher, and the labor market is very rigid: at least in Italy, it's very difficult to fire someone once they have obtained a 'permanent position'. Still though, I think there are opportunities to be had; things like what Fabrizio Capobianco did with Funambol. I can only find stories in Italian that focus more on the Italian aspect of their operations:

http://www.workingcapital.telecomitalia.it/2010/09/i-piedi-i...

[jeltz]

Well, both taxes and salaries are higher in Northern Europe and our companies are still competitive so that is not the reason why the Spanish IT companies are not competitive.

[davidw]

Taxes as a % of GDP are not that much higher, if at all, in northern Europe than in Italy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_revenu...

And you get a lot more of them back in various ways in northern Europe.

I think it's a fairly complex question, and that's part of it. Maybe there's actually an opportunity, because I know a bunch of smart developers in Italy who work for less than they would get elsewhere. I know Italy very well, and still wonder what I'm missing, because like you say, there are taxes elsewhere too.

[davidw]

Actually, tax incidence in Italy is even worse than that:

https://twitter.com/MicheleCaivano/status/240087376465125377...

[narag]

Severance pay has been cut in half in Spain some months ago.