European Salaries

ssppss · Post by **ssppss** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 10:17 pm

How do salaries in Europe compare with that in US for same type of work. I am talking of hi-tech only. I heard from a freind that it is 50% of US salary. I found it a little hard to beleive. I thought it would be more or less par (maybe 10-20% lower). My own data point suggested that obliquely. I had done intial rounds of interview with a European company in my field (semiconductors) and asked them how they would compare with my current US salary. They sounded depressed about that. It seemed that their best-case might equal my US salary. So any input from others?

Desi_by_Nature · Post by **Desi_by_Nature** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:11 am

yeah for hi-tech i think US is still better - unless you have some very unique skills.
Europe is becoming increasily more attractive than the US for Finance/Investment Banking jobs though.

punjabi · Post by **punjabi** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:14 am

we have top whack 40% tax in europe and a number of hidden taxes like 17.5% vat etc

harishk · Post by **harishk** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:48 pm

ssppss;50744How do salaries in Europe compare with that in US for same type of work. I am talking of hi-tech only. I heard from a freind that it is 50% of US salary. I found it a little hard to beleive. I thought it would be more or less par (maybe 10-20% lower). My own data point suggested that obliquely. I had done intial rounds of interview with a European company in my field (semiconductors) and asked them how they would compare with my current US salary. They sounded depressed about that. It seemed that their best-case might equal my US salary. So any input from others?[/quote]

It's not an apples to apples comparison. Europe has a much better health care and pension system. The workplaces are family friendly and workers get additional holidays.

The work pressure is also lower than in the US. So you have to weigh what you value. Salary should not be sole factor. Nothing beats a good healthcare plan and a govt protected work environment.

punjabi · Post by **punjabi** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 1:43 pm

harishk;50907It's not an apples to apples comparison. Europe has a much better health care and pension system. The workplaces are family friendly and workers get additional holidays.

The work pressure is also lower than in the US. So you have to weigh what you value. Salary should not be sole factor. Nothing beats a good healthcare plan and a govt protected work environment.

healthcare is not free. You pay it out of your salary.Ever heard of national insurance tax in UK ?
Some companies had great pension systems but most have wound up them and no longer offered to new employees.Now its only what you pay into the pension and you can't even withdraw anything untill you are 55 year old even if you r2i , unlike USA where you withdraw it
However work pressure is definitely lower than US provided you are not in a investment bank.There are 30 Holidays in a year.

cnu · Post by **cnu** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 6:18 pm

I might be wrong about what I say about US, I think in US trend for jobs tend to be more towards contract while opposite in Europe.

Hence if I make an effort to compare US apples to European apples, US pays higher but as someone pointed it out, it may be around 20 to 25% less in Europe, that would be between same sector of jobs, and type of jobs [comparing contract to contract or permanent to a permanent]

I work for an American company in Europe, and my clients tend to be both American and Eurpean. I find workpressure to be more for an American company [hence the consistency is less] while Europen companys are more relation ship oriented hence more relaxed. Europeans do not believe as hardly as Americans do when it comes to firing people hence you feel much safer when it comes to job security.

ssppss · Post by **ssppss** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 1:41 am

I must clarify: I am not looking to compare the entire package of life in Europe, just the salary. I understand tax, health care, work pressure are different. I just want to know for the same type of work in Europe how do the salaries compare.

I actually have no offer, no plan, no interveiw nothing from Europe. This is out of curiosity.

Thanks.

cnu · Post by **cnu** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 1:57 am

If its _only_ money, it would be US.

Old-Spice2 · Post by **Old-Spice2** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:38 am

I have some friends working in UK and Germany. US salaries are higher and on average you get 3 weeks PTO per year. In Europe my friend gets 8 weeks of PTO. He takes two vacations per year - winter in India and summer in Europe. Since you work 5 weeks more in US, the salary differential evens out.

cnu · Post by **cnu** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:35 am

If it is not money, am also kinda in the same boat, we have flexi-benifits, which means I can buy holidays against my tax. How does it work? Many of whom who are in the higher bracket of tax opt to buy holidays and bring their tax down [we pay tax for what we "earn"]. Effectively you are getting less pay but more free time, ofcourse this is excluding the 21 holidays.