The complexity of the bureaucracy is indeed a bummer from what I could see when I worked in small companies. One company I worked for lost a lot of money just b

The complexity of the bureaucracy is indeed a bummer from what I could see when I worked in small companies. One company I worked for lost a lot of money just by not getting in time some forms for some tax/"charges" reduction. Concerning the cost of an employee: one thing to keep in mind is that once you paid your employee, he already got his basic retirement and health plan in place, contrary to the US and pretty much everywhere else outside western europe. As an example, I earn more here in Japan than in Paris, the cost of living in Japan is certainly cheaper than in Paris, and taxes are low but in the end once I factor out the cost of health insurance, retirement, and maybe soon sparing money for children's education, France is really not so bad. I actually know several friends who came back to France after earning "so much money" in the US, especially once they had kids.