Not local, but I try and keep up from time to time, and I have seen a lot of hand-wringing on the Internet about how low Berlin tech wages are.
It can be hard to swallow at first, but when you account for lower rent, much cheaper health insurance, and far more vacation days (~20-24 by law - and no one actually expects you to be available) along with safer cities with generally higher quality of life, in my opinion it ends up being a very, very good trade off.
I moved to Amsterdam some years back (and have worked for a Berlin based company) and don't know if I could ever move back to the states.
Also, at least in the cities, everyone will be fluent in English.
If you pick city other than Amsterdam, or are willing to have a 45 min+ commute, rents should still be reasonable.
Also the rights point you bring up is pretty key, the amount of protections, safety net, and rights you get as an employee in Europe makes it so that needing to save copious amount of money in case things go sideways is not a thing.