Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
When you compare USA and Australia, the main factor that I see is that the much greater population in the US results in opportunities being more evenly spread across the country. Here, the price of housing in Melbourne and Sydney are extremely high but many jobs are centred in these two cities, where about a third of the population live. If you have an average job, such as being a teacher, police officer or nurse you can try to move to a much cheaper location and be paid the same as in the major cities. Thus life can be very comfortable but there is a lot of competition for these jobs. If you work in a specialist field or in most sectors of the state government your job will be in Sydney and Melbourne. You will have high housing costs and have to deal with bad traffic and long commuting times.
I do not see the availability of consumer goods to be an issue. I can get books sent from England more quickly than from Melbourne. Amazon has just arrived here and everything is extremely cheap compared to years ago.
I think social mobility is at least as good here as in the US.
People are always commenting on the distance we are from everywhere yet Australians are very keen travellers. I cannot say I really enjoy 24 hour flights in economy but they do not stop me from travelling. You get used to it. People constantly do five night business trips to eg New York, Boston or whatever.
Our friends in Europe do not travel nearly as much as we do.
However in my opinion, there is no best country in the world. Depends on what you are wanting.
I agree. Australia may be the best country for economic opportunity and it also is safe and has great climate choices....had I been born there, I doubt that I would ever want to leave. However, you still don't have the varied choices and opportunities that the USA offers.
Vancouver summers are very pleasant and usually no humidity. Remember those temps you see on reports are taken at YVR right on the water. Downtown and just a few minutes inland it can be as much as 8C warmer.
I don't think having flowers starting to bloom in late Ferbruary or early March is indicative of a horrible climate.
8C is a bit of an exaggeration I'm sure, difference between Vancouver and Chilliwack is just 3C in the summer, and Chilliwack is a good 100km inland. I suppose living in Chilliwack and commuting to Vancouver is an option. Altho tbh, it's still a downgrade from NYC, since New York is 2C warmer year round. If I'm going to take a downgrade in climate from NYC, it has to be for a good salary. Like if a company in Vancouver offered me $35K+ right out of graduation, I'd move there in a heartbeat, but I wouldnt move there just for a regular job
Australia is far away, but has much better airfare prices than Canada. For travelers, I think it would go like this: England>USA>Australia>Canada. It's a shame too, I think Toronto and Quebec City are beautiful and I always wanted to go there, but with airplane tickets that cost $200, it's hard to convince myself to go there. Tickets to Mexico and the Caribbean are about the same price even tho they are much farther away from New York. For a destination as close as Toronto or Montreal, plane tickets should be like $50, nowhere near the $200+ they are charging!
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,739 posts, read 58,090,525 times
Reputation: 46215
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer
I pay about $10,000 per year for health insurance through my employer and doctor's visits are an additional $20 per visit. This is for my entire family.
So, it's not that bad.
You have an employer and that employer is not getting by for FREE... I had one of those for 40 yrs, after that...... you are on your own! (unless on Medicare).
3 USA friends DIED because they were laid off in their 50's and did not have medical insurance.
My friends from other parts of the world term the USA medical system as 'Barbaric' .
Yup, although in overall life in Italy is slightly more expensive than in Spain but average wages are like 2 rain drops, equal practically. Take account that this source is using the Wiki article as a reference, article which has been vandalized until unknown limits, specially boosting the Italian wage. A good samaritan posted one by one the official wages from the official European statisic agency (EURES) which is in the actual wiki article and the map I posted. There was a guy which made like 20 different accounts just to increase Italy's average wage by 300-350€. Weird stuff!
If you want to see it better I recommend you going to the "List of European countries by average wage" wiki article and then see the source for the tables which is the official European statistics agency; that's the most accurate data.
About the US... i'm surprised, I thought US's average wage was at least 3.500€? Anyways, in California probably the average wage is something about 3600-3800€, right? as several states have low wages while NY, Cali or Washington are much richer.
The statistics I referenced for USA was median wage converted to Euros. Cali, Washington, and NY would all be higher than the average for the USA...I was surprised that it was that low myself but still ranks higher than any of the Eurozone countries save Luxembourg and Denmark.
It is useless to compare wages between Europe and the US, net wages in France for example already have pensions, health insurance and education deducted and it is the same for most European countries. Not counting the other state aids (help for housing, family allowances etc.).
But hey I do not deny that salaries for the upper classes (engineer, doctors etc) are significantly higher in the US.
Yes, there are more than 100.000 Portuguese people living in Spain, I said its the 4th European country by number of Portuguese immigrants, not that in France they aren't 5 times more or in Switzerland more than 2 times more. Also lots (more than 50.000) cross the borders every day during most of the year, do you want a collection of sources here? Because I can post them. Lots of Portuguese people living close to the border work for example in the Spanish fruit picking, or in the industry in Galicia. Ask anyone living there or in the Spanish side and they will tell you. Still, I can post sources as well.
No there isn't. According to National Statistics there are a bit over than 91.000 Portuguese people living in Spain. France, Switzerland, the UK, Germany and Luxembourg all have more Portuguese citizens than Spain. TablaPx
I would like the source for the Portuguese cross-border workers because I'm actually interested. I grew up on the Spanish border and yes there are people who do cross the border everyday to work but it's not a majority. It's not Switzerland with its neighbouring countries.
It is useless to compare wages between Europe and the US, net wages in France for example already have pensions, health insurance and education deducted and it is the same for most European countries. Not counting the other state aids (help for housing, family allowances etc.).
But hey I do not deny that salaries for the upper classes (engineer, doctors etc) are significantly higher in the US.
Well the wages in Europe are much more highly taxed because they have those services. For example, my company is global and has offices around the planet. I know for a fact that our Engineers in Amsterdam make significantly less than our Engineers in Houston but when you add in taxes, the actual take home is about double in Houston what the same grade Engineer would make in Amsterdam....of course some of the services that you would have to pay for in the US are covered in those taxes in Amsterdam.
A young Engineer that has been working for me the last 2 years is going back to Amsterdam and indicates he will have to pay taxes of about 52% in addition to a lower wage plus the cost of a automobile is more than double due to the carbon and road tax that is charged in Netherlands that we don't have in the USA. And Amsterdam is far from cheap to live...he wants to come to the USA or Canada office when he gets the chance.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the advantages of the Euro system over the US system but let's be honest, the US system allows for creation of new companies which leads to opportunities that the Euro system does not which is why 9 of the 10 most valuable corporations in the world are HQ in the USA.
You have an employer and that employer is not getting by for FREE... I had one of those for 40 yrs, after that...... you are on your own! (unless on Medicare).
3 USA friends DIED because they were laid off in their 50's and did not have medical insurance.
My friends from other parts of the world term the USA medical system as 'Barbaric' .
Like I’ve said before, I do think that America should do a better job of taking care of its low income and poor people, especially when it comes to healthcare. I believe that eventually there will be some form of universal healthcare, maybe in combination with private incentives.
But right now, living in America works a lot better if you’re not poor. Plus, the unemployment rate is pretty low at 4.1%, and that’s certainly helpful.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
and that employer is not getting by for FREE
... I had one of those for 40 yrs, after that...... you are on your own! (unless on Medicare).
