Unions are not only about salaries. The company I worked at was unionized and the union made yearly salary adjustments happen. But to answer your question: In

Unions are not only about salaries. The company I worked at was unionized and the union made yearly salary adjustments happen. But to answer your question: In Germany, what the company actually ends up paying is about 20% higher than what you have in your contract. The company pays part of your unemployment insurance, healthcare insurance and some other contributions/taxes employees don't get to see. Your own contributions are usually around 40%. If a company pays 100k in total you end up with ~50k in your pocket after taxes/contributions. I also feel that tech salaries in some regions of the US are a bit disconnected from what is happening in the rest of the world.