I don't think so. UK and US have equivalent unemployment rates but vastly different welfare systems. Germany is more generous than the UK but has lower unemplo

I don't think so. UK and US have equivalent unemployment rates but vastly different welfare systems. Germany is more generous than the UK but has lower unemployment. Southern Europe has higher unemployment, but welfare typically less generous than Northern Europe. Low end jobs exist in the EU too — they just pay better than they do in the US. Low-end jobs that can be shifted in location (e.g. clothes production) have already left both US and EU. Low end jobs that need to be done in-country or are harder to offshore (cleaning, food factory work) remain in country (but perhaps eat into corporate profits, explaining the lower GINI coefficient of EU vs US.