4 ms·

When I asked a Swede why salaries in Stockholm are comparatively low even by german standards (mostly because cost of living is higher in scandinavia while sala

When I asked a Swede why salaries in Stockholm are comparatively low even by german standards (mostly because cost of living is higher in scandinavia while salaries are similar) he told me that it might have to do with the fact that in Sweden people are not supposed to rack up huge savings because they will be taken care of by the state when they retire to be able to still live comfortably. Basically you just need to earn what you need to live comfortably unlike in the US where you have to do a lot not to be poor when you reach retirement. The guy was not in tech and also a generation older than me, so i am not sure if it's fully true, but i was surprised by the low salaries in relation to the cost of living.

expertentipp 8y ago
> in Sweden people are not supposed to rack up huge savings because they will be taken care of by the state when they retire to still live comfortably This applies only to native Swedes. As a foreigner, even EU national, it's trivial to end up overboard of the social security net. Beware of tollerating low compensation fed by the "we'll hold your back" cliche. The same situation in Germany.
- jlangenauer 8y ago
  In Germany, even if you are a German national, there's no guarantee that the state will be able to fund pensions as it does now, due to the shift in demographics. I love it here, but I operate under the assumption that I'll have to provide for myself in retirement.
  - cecja 8y ago
    Die Renten sind sicher! Jokes aside the thing is if you have to provide yourself for retirement there went something wrong with the core of the "Sozialstaat" and getting something on your plate to eat would be the last of your worries. As demographics shift and our society gets older and older the democratic power shifts as well so trust me when old people have the most voting count in the country your "Rente" will be save. They would rather bleed the young than lose power.
chvid 8y ago
Free education gives an "oversupply" of educated workers. Plus high marginal tax incentivizes payment by other mean than salary (time off, short work hours ...). Sweden of the Scandinavian countries is the odd one out. The serious hardworking big brother. They always had big companies (IKEA, Volvo, Ericsson) compared to Denmark and Norway. Far stronger engineering tradition. Self-sufficient with nuclear plants, weapons, automobiles and so on under the cold war. Far more open to immigration. Bigger difference between rich and poor. Better and deeper financial markets. More hierarchical.
toxik 8y ago
No, I posted about this in another comment thread. Here's it quoted: > One thing that should be emphasized when comparing salaries between Sweden and other countries is how there is a secret tax baked into the Swedish salary -- arbetsgivaravgiften. > Basically, in all other nationalities (to my knowledge), you are quoted how much the company will pay for your salary. Then tax is applied, and whatever is left is what you take home. In Sweden, you are quoted an in-between number. If you are offered $100k before tax in Sweden, that means the employer is _actually_ paying something like $143k. You will still not be getting $100k, but rather that is the "taxable income", so you end up with about $70k, but your employer paid $143k, but you agreed on $100k. Makes no sense. I used to think like you, with this idea that Swedish salaries are substantially lower -- but if you use the true tax, salaries are actually comparable.
- kayoone 8y ago
  same in Germany btw. Salaries are gross, before income tax, still the employer pays roughly 1.4x of that gross salary.

expertentipp 8y ago

> in Sweden people are not supposed to rack up huge savings because they will be taken care of by the state when they retire to still live comfortably This applies only to native Swedes. As a foreigner, even EU national, it's trivial to end up overboard of the social security net. Beware of tollerating low compensation fed by the "we'll hold your back" cliche. The same situation in Germany.

jlangenauer 8y ago
In Germany, even if you are a German national, there's no guarantee that the state will be able to fund pensions as it does now, due to the shift in demographics. I love it here, but I operate under the assumption that I'll have to provide for myself in retirement.
- cecja 8y ago
  Die Renten sind sicher! Jokes aside the thing is if you have to provide yourself for retirement there went something wrong with the core of the "Sozialstaat" and getting something on your plate to eat would be the last of your worries. As demographics shift and our society gets older and older the democratic power shifts as well so trust me when old people have the most voting count in the country your "Rente" will be save. They would rather bleed the young than lose power.

chvid 8y ago

Free education gives an "oversupply" of educated workers. Plus high marginal tax incentivizes payment by other mean than salary (time off, short work hours ...). Sweden of the Scandinavian countries is the odd one out. The serious hardworking big brother. They always had big companies (IKEA, Volvo, Ericsson) compared to Denmark and Norway. Far stronger engineering tradition. Self-sufficient with nuclear plants, weapons, automobiles and so on under the cold war. Far more open to immigration. Bigger difference between rich and poor. Better and deeper financial markets. More hierarchical.

toxik 8y ago

No, I posted about this in another comment thread. Here's it quoted: > One thing that should be emphasized when comparing salaries between Sweden and other countries is how there is a secret tax baked into the Swedish salary -- arbetsgivaravgiften. > Basically, in all other nationalities (to my knowledge), you are quoted how much the company will pay for your salary. Then tax is applied, and whatever is left is what you take home. In Sweden, you are quoted an in-between number. If you are offered $100k before tax in Sweden, that means the employer is _actually_ paying something like $143k. You will still not be getting $100k, but rather that is the "taxable income", so you end up with about $70k, but your employer paid $143k, but you agreed on $100k. Makes no sense. I used to think like you, with this idea that Swedish salaries are substantially lower -- but if you use the true tax, salaries are actually comparable.

kayoone 8y ago
same in Germany btw. Salaries are gross, before income tax, still the employer pays roughly 1.4x of that gross salary.