> But the OP said salaries excluding taxes, I would imagine whatever social safety net is in place would be taken out of your wages in taxes, right? Jein :) Th

> But the OP said salaries excluding taxes, I would imagine whatever social safety net is in place would be taken out of your wages in taxes, right? Jein :) The cost for social security is split roughly 50/50 between employee and employer. The basic point about more holidays is true in germany as well: I know people that have 30 or even 35 days (7 weeks) of holidays. Then there's public holidays that are paid as well in germany (up to 14 per year, depending on where you live) etc. My basic point was that it's very hard to compare salaries only by looking at the raw figures since the benefits guaranteed or given voluntarily differ massively.