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Which is the best European country for low-skilled/unemployed people?
Which one gives the best salary and the best benefits in time of unemployment?
I think the most equal countries, which in statistical lingo would be "the countries with the lowest Gini coefficient", are the best bet in this case, so I'd put my stakes on the Scandinavian countries.
But which one of them?
I heard great things about Denmark, are them true? Is Denmark the place to be for a dishwasher or a toilet cleaner ?
And why would Denmark be better than, say, Sweden?
Denmark. In Denmark an unemployed person is making around 60% of a physican's salary. McDonalds worker is making 70% of a physician's salary.
I would not want to live in Denmark, though. Terrible place if you're ambitious. I get that we need to target inequality, but Denmark has gone much too far.
Denmark. In Denmark an unemployed person is making around 60% of a physican's salary. McDonalds worker is making 70% of a physician's salary.
I would not want to live in Denmark, though. Terrible place if you're ambitious. I get that we need to target inequality, but Denmark has gone much too far.
That's funny. Last time I checked, the high income people in Denmark are not clamoring to get out. I think you should fact check your stereotypes first.
That's funny. Last time I checked, the high income people in Denmark are not clamoring to get out. I think you should fact check your stereotypes first.
Why would high income people in Denmark "clamor to get out"? There is no developed country on earth where high income people are "clamoring to get out". Even somewhere like Mexico, Argentina, India or Turkey, the rich are generally content, and aren't going to just move to a different country.
And what "sterotypes" are you referring to? I didn't even hint at any stereotypes
Denmark residents pay the highest taxes in the world. That's a fact, not a stereotype. If you are ambitious, it's not a good place to live.
Get a job working as a dish-washer on a oil-rig in the North Sea.
You will make more than the physician. And you will have two weeks on and four weeks off.
Yup. People don't know this, but it's true. You can make more working the oil rigs than as a physician in a hospital.
Even in Germany, which has much higher social inequality than Denmark, you can make more in some manual labor jobs than as a physician. I think this would surprise many people. In the U.S. or Canada, a doctor would make three times the oil rig worker.
Scandanavia has an admirable social model, and indeed has reduced inequality and poverty. In that sense, it has been a huge success. But it doesn't benefit educated professionals. You have the highest taxes in the world, and in the non-Euro nations like Denmark and Norway, the highest prices in the world (well, along with Switzerland, which also has crazy prices, but lower taxes and much higher social inequality).
I admire the collective responsibility these nations have taken for their people as a whole, but I could never thrive under such conditions.
Scandanavia has an admirable social model, and indeed has reduced inequality and poverty. In that sense, it has been a huge success. But it doesn't benefit educated professionals. You have the highest taxes in the world, and in the non-Euro nations like Denmark and Norway, the highest prices in the world (well, along with Switzerland, which also has crazy prices, but lower taxes and much higher social inequality).
The taxation is progressive, and there's plenty of ways to turn around and avoid taxes, like investing. I don't understand the grounds why the countries wouldn't "benefit" educated professionals. I you're wealthy businessman, you still bring home a lot more money than a person flipping burgers. I don't know about DK an NO, but a regular doctor has a monthly median wage of €6800 / month here in Finland, €5400 in Sweden. There's no way a oil rig burger flipper on the north pole would make that much. The best salary is for a senior physician on the private sector, and he/she might well get €16k a month in Sweden.
The taxation is progressive, and there's plenty of ways to turn around and avoid taxes, like investing. I don't understand the grounds why the countries wouldn't "benefit" educated professionals. I you're wealthy businessman, you still bring home a lot more money than a person flipping burgers.
Well, yeah, the taxation is progressive in almost every country. If you are living in NYC or London, the rich pay the vast majority of taxes, and the poor pay little. Something like 85% of local NYC taxes are paid by the richest 2% of the city.
But the difference in Denmark is that taxes are just so much drastically higher, to the point where there are weaker incentives to being more productive. For some people, there's a point where it doesn't make sense to push yourself to be the best you can be, if you know your compensation won't be much different.
But the difference in Denmark is that taxes are just so much drastically higher, to the point where there are weaker incentives to being more productive. For some people, there's a point where it doesn't make sense to push yourself to be the best you can be, if you know your compensation won't be much different.
Do you really think the Danes are this stupid? Of course not. Whatever your pay is, higher salary still means that you bring home more so that the taxation doesn't punish you. The higher your wage, the more you can invest in stock, property, land... whatever, of which you get tax reductions from, and dividends are payed with a flat tax.
I'm not sure the physician example is the best. Only in the USA do doctors make the kind of money they do. Even then, a roustabout in Williston ND could make more than a GP in Grand Forks, ND. Maybe not anymore, though. Even outside of oil work, which very much skews salaries, there are definitely public sector union workers in the USA who make far more than general practsioners.
All that said I do think Norway and Denmark are the probably best places for low skilled and unemployed people. Norway is probably even better than Denmark since it's so much richer. Of course, Australia is not European, but it also has the same social benefits and extremely high paying resource extraction jobs, and a huge building boom. If you're an idiot, Australia is a great place to make a living.
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