2 ms·

> Salaries in Germany (and other European countries) are lower than in the US because German citizens receive a lot of benefits through government budgets that

> Salaries in Germany (and other European countries) are lower than in the US because German citizens receive a lot of benefits through government budgets that US citizens can only dream of. healthcare, essentially free higher education on a level easily comparable to most U.S. universities, better quality primary and secondary education, free or low cost (depending on the state) childcare from age 2-3, comparatively decent and relatively affordable public transport, pensions based on prior earnings that are (somewhat) adjusted for inflation, child benefits, elder/disabled care benefits, etc etc. Still, if we add all those expenses with the wage, the total is still lower for a SWE in EU vs a SWE in US.

tfourb 4y ago
In terms of median income (which might arguably be better suited for this particular question than average income), the U.S. is on fourth position with Luxembourg, Switzerland and Norway occupying higher ranks. Germany is only about 3,000 USD behind the U.S. in that measure: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/median-income-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/median-in... In terms of median wealth, half the E.U. scores better than the U.S.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe...