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Old 12-06-2017, 03:00 PM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,502 posts, read 15,404,868 times
Reputation: 11935

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Quote:
Originally Posted by botticelli View Post
Like I said, disposable income doesn't well reflect living standards at all. You need to consider what services you need to pay for and what is offer free by the government. Belgium has one of the highest taxes in Europe, and you would expect they receive far more services than a low tax region.

Additionally, not just what you can buy, whether the transit is good, whether the public space is pleasant, they are all part of the quality of life equation. Life doesn't equal your purchasing power.

It is well known in the US low gas price receives massive subsidy from the government. Not just gas, but parking, use of roads as well. You can easily search for that.
True. Things like paid paternity/maternity leave, mandatory vacation, healthcare, severance pay laws, and even having no tax on monetary gifts of any amount when redistributing wealth to children all add " unseen " money into peoples pockets.
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Old 12-06-2017, 03:13 PM
 
Location: East Coast of the United States
27,340 posts, read 28,409,504 times
Reputation: 24858
Quote:
Originally Posted by StealthRabbit View Post
USA? Do you have $40,000 / yr to spend on Health care insurance? (not including actual HC services, those are REALLY expensive!)
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.
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Old 12-06-2017, 04:23 PM
 
Location: Florida
23,795 posts, read 13,176,846 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fibonacci View Post
There are big negatives to living in the US (terrible health care and gun violence for example), but the COL is really good in the US compared to virtually all of the most developed parts of Europe. A small place in freaking Brussels, which is known for being gritty/dirty/less desirable, can run you nearly 800k euros now. That's on top of $6 gallon gas and very expensive food prices.

Yes, the cost for living in places like SF/NYC/LA etc grab the headlines, but for what 800k euros gets you in Brussels you could by a huge mansion with many acres in places like GA, SC, TX or many other mid-west states. The weather is also much better in many parts than Canada. Americans are always negative, but what they take for granted are things like the US' very stable food supply and safety (the US has vast amounts of very good land for agriculture and produces massive amounts of food, so much so that many countries with food security problems are almost entirely dependent on our corn belt), potable water everywhere, well controlled pharmaceutics, very low unemployment compared to many parts of Europe, and a GDP per capita that exceeds most European countries (which is amazing since we are so much bigger). Yes, the US ain't perfect and has negatives just like every other country, but overall things cost a lot less in the US compared to a lot of the places in this discussion, plus Americans tend to have a higher median income.
Quality of life is subjective of course. Personally, I have no interest in living in GA, SC or TX ever. I like the weather, job market and liberalism in South Fla, and I have a good job, but the COL is ridiculous. I'm leaning towards Portugal or Spain, and the COL in those countries is much lower than South Fla. I won't be looking for employment--so actually high unemployment brings a lower cost of living.

I am deeply disturbed by the political climate in the US and that is a priority for me. I'm tired of the hate, bigotry, polarization, religious zealots, and the love of guns. For me, personally, the US offers very little towards quality of life. I guess I'm seeking a new culture as well as a new country.
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Old 12-06-2017, 04:41 PM
 
3,888 posts, read 3,249,647 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci View Post
Federally yes. Provincially it varies. For instance in BC it's mandatory 3 weeks after 5 years.
So does Walmart after 5 years (full time)...Walmart...it does not get more bottom of the barrel than that. Every worker gets paid holidays in the US.
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Old 12-06-2017, 05:05 PM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,502 posts, read 15,404,868 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by saturno_v View Post
So does Walmart after 5 years (full time)...Walmart...it does not get more bottom of the barrel than that. Every worker gets paid holidays in the US.
Less than half their workers are full time. Walmart also got rid of Holiday Pay in 2016. Meaning you work July 4th, no extra pay unless you use it from a PTO account...which is also for sick days, personal days, holidays and vacation.

"In 2016, Walmart changed the way workers accrue paid time off. A policy that went into effect in March 2016 streamlined paid vacation, sick time, personal time and holiday time into one category, instead of having employees accrue those types of paid time off separately."

Worker advocates urge Walmart to raise wages on holidays

Also Walmart is a large corporation. Millions work for small companies and there is no guarantee of paid vacation. So yes, it DOES get lower than that.

"Most employees in the U.S. do receive paid vacation, but one in four — about 28 million people — do not. According to a survey by Hotels.com, 57% of workers polled in the U.S. favor guaranteeing paid vacation time."

1 in 4 U.S. Employees Has No Paid Vacation Time

I wonder how many millions that do get paid vacation ONLY get one week, or 2 for their whole lives????
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Old 12-06-2017, 05:44 PM
 
Location: M I N N E S O T A
14,799 posts, read 21,411,871 times
Reputation: 9263
Quote:
Originally Posted by survivingearth View Post
These seems to be the favorite countries to live whenever i talk to people. Do you agree?
where i live, people don't really have another country they want to move too...

on a nation wide spectrum, the outlier is Mexico, next being Canada and the U.K.
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Old 12-06-2017, 06:44 PM
 
3,888 posts, read 3,249,647 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci View Post
Less than half their workers are full time. Walmart also got rid of Holiday Pay in 2016. Meaning you work July 4th, no extra pay unless you use it from a PTO account...which is also for sick days, personal days, holidays and vacation.

"In 2016, Walmart changed the way workers accrue paid time off. A policy that went into effect in March 2016 streamlined paid vacation, sick time, personal time and holiday time into one category, instead of having employees accrue those types of paid time off separately."

Worker advocates urge Walmart to raise wages on holidays

Also Walmart is a large corporation. Millions work for small companies and there is no guarantee of paid vacation. So yes, it DOES get lower than that.

"Most employees in the U.S. do receive paid vacation, but one in four — about 28 million people — do not. According to a survey by Hotels.com, 57% of workers polled in the U.S. favor guaranteeing paid vacation time."

1 in 4 U.S. Employees Has No Paid Vacation Time

I wonder how many millions that do get paid vacation ONLY get one week, or 2 for their whole lives????
A lot of these people that do not get paid vacation are working as contractors where, by definition, you do not get paid vacation time.

No, it does not get lower than Walmart in terms of of crappy jobs easy to get......working at Walmart is almost the equivalent of unemployment benefits....is the real bottom of the barrel.
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Old 12-07-2017, 06:22 AM
 
Location: Cannes
2,453 posts, read 2,362,328 times
Reputation: 1620
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gobba View Post
Just as many people pointed out, Spain should be added to that list ASAP... people scare themselves when see that Spain's unemployment rate is 16% yet even the French one is 10% and the Italian one 12%...

The majority of that unemployment comes from southern Spain, yet most unemployeds earn social welfare and a lot of them work without contract in seasonal jobs, if you work without contract: you can still receive any kind of welfare related to employment issues.

In France and Italy you also see the same, specially Italy, but in Spain even more.

Spain is the 2nd country in the world and 1st in Europe in life expectancy. 3rd in health efficiency (just after Singapore and HK) and 5nd in health quality, it usually ranks amongst the 10 better countries to live, because it's the reality.

Wages in Spain are slightly higher than the European average and barely slightly under the British, French or German one. Yet the price of life in Spain is significantly cheaper, specially for healthy food: Spain is Europe's farm; so not a surprise. Yet Spanish economy obviously relies on the 3rd sector, but the industry makes 20% of the entire GDP so in separate sectors, the industry makes the most; followed by business sector with 12% and tourism with 10%. Albeit having almost half of it's territory with cultivars, the agriculture doesn't make even 4% of the GDP. Still, Spain is self reliant in food, and it's also amongst the top countries in the world in solar and wind energy, with major superprojects being proposed to be 100% relying in clean energy within 2050.

Spain is pioneer in water desalination, in water management and dams and high speed trains, being the 2nd in the world after Japan.

Spain is the 8th country in the world by immigrants (amount) and more than 1/3 of the unemployment belongs to non-educated low skilled workers.


Spain will need more than 500.000 computer engineers at the end of 2020, there are many high paid, very low unemployment job categories in Spain. The Internet is full of videos and blogs of North American, British, Australian, German, Swedish etc people who moved to Spain to work there (young people) and don't forget the quality of life, climate, way of life, health quality, safety, etc.



Man it's almost offensive what you did there.

Are you really comparing Spain to Thailand and Chile?!?

Spain is amongst the richest countries in the world, a top notch country per GDP PPP (per capita) or wages, it's one of Europe's most developed countries and it has a full, very high quality of democracy. Spain is as well the 2nd country with the biggest GDP growth in the Eurozone since 2015, doubling Germany. Seek in any American, British, Australian, etc. newspaper and you'll see. Spanish GDP is actually in historical maximums and it's growing by +3.2% right now.

I agree finding a good job in Spain is more difficult than in France or UK. The majority of youths find low paid jobs (just as almost anywhere else) because they have no experience and the job market asks you for experience. But what about when you have 2-3 years of experience or bigger? Without counting that many careers don't have unemployment or they have a very low one.

Just seek through Spanish job portals. Wages are slightly lower than in France or the UK, OMG comparing Spain to Thailand, Jesus Christ...


Those are the average wages through Europe:
I suppose the 5k is for Monaco and 4K Geneva and Zurich
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Old 12-07-2017, 06:24 AM
 
Location: Cannes
2,453 posts, read 2,362,328 times
Reputation: 1620
The best countries in my opinion all things consider
US
Germany
UK
Australia
France
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Old 12-07-2017, 11:12 AM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,502 posts, read 15,404,868 times
Reputation: 11935
Quote:
Originally Posted by saturno_v View Post
A lot of these people that do not get paid vacation are working as contractors where, by definition, you do not get paid vacation time.

No, it does not get lower than Walmart in terms of of crappy jobs easy to get......working at Walmart is almost the equivalent of unemployment benefits....is the real bottom of the barrel.
You are in a bubble.
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