I have the opposite take. The US has something approaching a free labor market. That sucks if you're at the bottom. It's awesome if you're in demand and can get

I have the opposite take. The US has something approaching a free labor market. That sucks if you're at the bottom. It's awesome if you're in demand and can get a 20% pay rise at any time by jumping employers (and yes, that 20% stacks reliably). I admire Europe for achieving a good lower bound on the standard of living of a person in society. If it were my way, all labor laws would only apply to those making less than 100K a year. The same laws which protect lower income earners by making hiring/firing expensive, make the cost of hiring/firing well paid employees astronomical. That puts a serious damper on the fluidity of labor markets.