Bleak jobs report in Europe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Europe has a huge problem with employment, reliable source or not, especially among young professionals. Situation is dire in Italy, Spain, Greece and other countries

The unemployment rate has actually improved a lot in Europe over the last decade. Still some way to go. Poor productivity growth is probably a bigger problem there now.

French person here. Yes. Also, please keep in mind, when you consider salaries, that healthcare is cheaper, daycare is subsidized, universities have free or low tuition, etc. So families can afford to have kids on much lower household incomes than here.

Don't forget the pension system. Nobody has to save for retirement. That's huge. You also don't need a car in many places.

Think of your most recent paystub and subtract all that you pay into for healthcare, retirement. Subtract the cost of daycare, 529s, school tuition bills, the total cost of your car. What is your actual salary in that case?

Not to mention that you can get a great bottle of wine for a few euros- the same quality costs double here.
If your consumption basket is weighted towards good fruit and vegetables, cured meats, and wine, good living is very cheap! Not to mention your social life tends to be much better because you don’t have to work all the time.

But perhaps the ultimate proof is longevity and other health outcomes. If Europe is such a poor shithole, how come they live so much longer than Americans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Europe has a huge problem with employment, reliable source or not, especially among young professionals. Situation is dire in Italy, Spain, Greece and other countries

The unemployment rate has actually improved a lot in Europe over the last decade. Still some way to go. Poor productivity growth is probably a bigger problem there now.

French person here. Yes. Also, please keep in mind, when you consider salaries, that healthcare is cheaper, daycare is subsidized, universities have free or low tuition, etc. So families can afford to have kids on much lower household incomes than here.

Birth rate is still very low. Italy is one of the lowest birth rate country.

[Anonymous]

French bosses are horrible. They still carry the imperialism attitude where non-French are their slaves. They will take 30% time off for vacation but expect the non French employee to work 11 hours per day. I couldn’t even go vote on election day bc obviously they only want American slaves and American income without actually contribute to this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No crap.

Pretty much the whole Euro zone stinks. Even if you are employed, their salaries are absolute garbage. EU is example #2847281 of what happens when you have crazy high taxes, too much big government, and the people expect all sorts of free handouts from the govt. Everything is so mediocre to subpar. Hard workers are taxed to death and have zero motivation to improve productivity when the govt confiscates 70% of it. There's zero motivation to invent things and be an entrepreneur because there are so many insane labor and tax laws that crush most anyone from trying. That's why the EU punches so far below its weight class for innovation and new companies that generate wealth. Everyone there relies on the govt for a thoroughly lower middle class lifestyle.

Europe is joke. My spouse works for a multinational company that has a euro team they have to interact with. The biggest problem is that they never work in Europe. Half the team is on vacation for a month and half at a time. They go into the office late and leave early. Are only allowed to answer communications between certain hours, etc. It's such a joke 'work' environment. If you want a thoroughly mediocre life in which you must rely on the govt for everything while taking home a very low salary, sure Europe might be good for you. All those vacation days and lack of productivity come at a cost though.

Can you name one country where the majority of workers are paying 70% of their income in taxes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Europe has a huge problem with employment, reliable source or not, especially among young professionals. Situation is dire in Italy, Spain, Greece and other countries

The unemployment rate has actually improved a lot in Europe over the last decade. Still some way to go. Poor productivity growth is probably a bigger problem there now.

French person here. Yes. Also, please keep in mind, when you consider salaries, that healthcare is cheaper, daycare is subsidized, universities have free or low tuition, etc. So families can afford to have kids on much lower household incomes than here.

Birth rate is still very low. Italy is one of the lowest birth rate country.

PP you replied to. I think that has more to do with education and lifestyle than income. If a woman is working on her career and socializing and generally happy and fulfilled, why would she want lots of kids?

My mother was the last of 7 children. Her neighbors had 14 kids. It was the post-war era when the government asked families to have lots of kids. None of these mothers had careers. Today it's different. My aunts all had 0-1 kids. I'm an only child. Most of my cousins had one child late (35+). I started early and had 2, and my other cousin who started early had 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:French bosses are horrible. They still carry the imperialism attitude where non-French are their slaves. They will take 30% time off for vacation but expect the non French employee to work 11 hours per day. I couldn’t even go vote on election day bc obviously they only want American slaves and American income without actually contribute to this country.

?? French person here. That's not true. I have the impression that someone on this thread is intentionally merding on France

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Europe has a huge problem with employment, reliable source or not, especially among young professionals. Situation is dire in Italy, Spain, Greece and other countries

The unemployment rate has actually improved a lot in Europe over the last decade. Still some way to go. Poor productivity growth is probably a bigger problem there now.

French person here. Yes. Also, please keep in mind, when you consider salaries, that healthcare is cheaper, daycare is subsidized, universities have free or low tuition, etc. So families can afford to have kids on much lower household incomes than here.

Don't forget the pension system. Nobody has to save for retirement. That's huge. You also don't need a car in many places.

Think of your most recent paystub and subtract all that you pay into for healthcare, retirement. Subtract the cost of daycare, 529s, school tuition bills, the total cost of your car. What is your actual salary in that case?

This is only relevant for someone living as dual income in a HCOL location. Most Americans aren’t saving much in a 529, don’t have school tuition bills and pay less for a car than they would in a European country. Most Americans also have employer provided health insurance.

I’ll give you daycare but that’s for a short period of time.

Americans earn much, much more money than Europeans even when you consider the social benefits.

You’re discounting that most Americans utilize state universities, send their kids to public school and save very little for college.

[Anonymous]

These sorts of generalisations aren't terribly helpful beyond highlighting the headline issues and higher level policy challenges. There are 27 countries in the EU and their situations can be very different. For example, youth unemployment is about 25% in Spain but less than7% in Germany.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry you are worried about Europe when Project 2025 and Musk are going to burn this country to the ground?

[Anonymous]

The French had yellow vest riots basically because taxes are too high, salaries are too low, and everything costs too much.

They barely invent anything and have no semblance of an entrepreneurial environment capable of generating billions of dollars in wealth for their country. They are basically a country where they require the govt to provide them with everything from childcare, to pensions, to jobs. That's why they pay like 50+ income tax and live very low middle class lifestyle. It's fine if you like being so mediocre. The only problem is that everything implodes when the govt has problems because they have virtually zero economic diversification. Maybe wine and cheese and cosmetic and fashion production, but very little in the way of cutting edge tech that generates far more wealthy than consumer goods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These sorts of generalisations aren't terribly helpful beyond highlighting the headline issues and higher level policy challenges. There are 27 countries in the EU and their situations can be very different. For example, youth unemployment is about 25% in Spain but less than7% in Germany.

You make it sound as if 7% for Germany is good. If the USA had a 7% unemployment rate, it'd be considered a catastrophic failure of an economy with massive unemployment. 7% is not good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of us considering working abroad, think again

Mario Draghi, a former head of the European Central Bank and former prime minister of Italy, was tasked by the European Commission with producing a plan to revive European competitiveness. As the final Draghi report makes clear, the EU has been in deep economic trouble for some time now. At the turn of the century, the EU and US were on a relatively equal footing. But, on a per-capita basis, real disposable income in the EU has grown at only half the rate of the US since the year 2000. The US now massively outperforms the EU in advanced technology. Only four in the world’s top-50 tech firms are European. Almost a million manufacturing jobs were lost in the EU in the last four years alone. The EU can no longer afford to be complacent in the face of this ‘calamity’, Draghi warns.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/10/19/the-slow-implosion-of-the-eu-project/

You wouldn't work abroad because of this?

[Anonymous]

I watch a lot of Swedish shows on YouTube and the clothing there seems much cheaper than the US. Nice jeans and a jacket for like 250 Kronor or ~$25.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These sorts of generalisations aren't terribly helpful beyond highlighting the headline issues and higher level policy challenges. There are 27 countries in the EU and their situations can be very different. For example, youth unemployment is about 25% in Spain but less than7% in Germany.

You make it sound as if 7% for Germany is good. If the USA had a 7% unemployment rate, it'd be considered a catastrophic failure of an economy with massive unemployment. 7% is not good.

Germany's unemployment rate was 10% in 1997 and 12% in 2005. It's now 3%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Europe has a huge problem with employment, reliable source or not, especially among young professionals. Situation is dire in Italy, Spain, Greece and other countries

The unemployment rate has actually improved a lot in Europe over the last decade. Still some way to go. Poor productivity growth is probably a bigger problem there now.

French person here. Yes. Also, please keep in mind, when you consider salaries, that healthcare is cheaper, daycare is subsidized, universities have free or low tuition, etc. So families can afford to have kids on much lower household incomes than here.

Don't forget the pension system. Nobody has to save for retirement. That's huge. You also don't need a car in many places.

Think of your most recent paystub and subtract all that you pay into for healthcare, retirement. Subtract the cost of daycare, 529s, school tuition bills, the total cost of your car. What is your actual salary in that case?

This is only relevant for someone living as dual income in a HCOL location. Most Americans aren’t saving much in a 529, don’t have school tuition bills and pay less for a car than they would in a European country. Most Americans also have employer provided health insurance.

I’ll give you daycare but that’s for a short period of time.

Americans earn much, much more money than Europeans even when you consider the social benefits.

You’re discounting that most Americans utilize state universities, send their kids to public school and save very little for college.

Given the above, do you think Americans generally are much happier than Europeans?