Comment by elteto

Not negating your anecdotal evidence but this is not even a fair comparison. Is 40k post-tax? Where does your friend in the EU live? Germany? Or Italy? Dresden or Torino? Where do his US peers live? Arizona? Or LA? Worlds of difference. Is it 3 figures but below $150k? Also, salary is _not_ the only cost of having an employee. In the US actual employee costs vary between 1.5x and 2x salary. What is the equivalent in the EU?