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You can't have your cake and eat it too. You like your social safety net? You like stronger worker protection? Long vacations? Someone has to pay for all of it.
by woobar 3y ago
You can't have your cake and eat it too. You like your social safety net? You like stronger worker protection? Long vacations? Someone has to pay for all of it. Either through higher taxes or lower wages.
- emptysongglass 3y agoI have to take out salary insurance because welfare benefits wouldn't even begin to cover living expenses. You have such a thing in the US too. In Denmark, it's easy to fire and easy to hire (let at hyre og fyre [1]) so what am I liking here? At US Google I understand it's 30 days paid time off a calendar year: that's the same standard as Europe. Yet Google will happily pay the same role less than half when hired here. I've done my research: this is cultural inertia, as another commenter alluded to. "We pay this much because that's what the market rate is for [country in Europe]". [1] https://www.detdanskearbejdsmarked.dk/den-danske-model/portraet-af-den-danske-model/let-at-hyre-og-fyre/ https://www.detdanskearbejdsmarked.dk/den-danske-model/portr...
- thefourthchime 3y agoI don't have an answer for this, but I know that in Poland, there are numerous engineering offices located outside of Warsaw. Engineers in these offices are paid well compared to the average Polish salary. These variations in compensation are influenced by market forces. While engineers may be more affordable in Europe, there are trade-offs to consider. One such trade-off is the significant time zone difference between California and Europe, making synchronization challenging. Additionally, cultural synchronization can be difficult, and there is significant value in having teams that share the same figurative and literal language.
- woobar 3y agoYou are comparing outliners (big tech with huge salaries and outstanding benefits) with every employer in Western(?) Europe. How much does it cost to provide 6 weeks of vacation to everyone in the country? The senior engineer in Europe will have to support more people through taxes. The market rates are lower because there is no market. FTA I only recognize one European company with somewhat global reach (booking.com). Europe doesn't have multiple companies trying risky businesses and competing for the top talent. European values (focus on equality, stability, WLB, etc) are in part responsible for this.
- 88913527 3y agoYou could take away Europe's social safety net and wages would still be lower. There is no equivalent to Silicon Valley there which creates the competition that bids up salaries.
- ChuckNorris89 3y ago>You could take away Europe's social safety net and wages would still be lower. That's true, however the strong employee protection laws are definitely a factor that keep investors looking for safer returns like real estate rather than putting their money in starting a risky business in Europe. If you had 1 mm USD/EUR/GBP to start a tech business, would you rather put it in a country where employees have high salaries but almost no rights or benefits by law, or in a country with lower wages but where you have the added risk to your business by all employees have stronger rights and benefits so your star coder could always spontaneously take his parental leave or his month long vacation break whenever you need him the most because "that's his legal right". It's sad but true. Employee protection rights are good, but they do discourage investments. The fact that US has almost no employee rights does encourage investing in labour there.
- retrac98 3y ago“Social safety net” 14% of people in UK are skipping meals because they can’t afford food right now. https://theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/18/one-in-7-britons-skipping-meals-in-cost-of-living-crisis-says-tuc https://theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/18/one-in-7-briton...