Because it's incredibly hard to get a work visa, and it comes with a lot of restrictions.
It's better for the US corporations to keep us as colonies of cheap labour for offshoring.
$250k/yr in Europe > $500k/yr in US, especially since in Europe that would put me somewhere in the 1% and I would live like a prince pretty much everywhere.
And more personally, $250k/yr at a company I enjoy > $1M/yr at a FAANG. I have no interest in getting filthy rich working for any of those companies, but YMMV.
Every time I've visited Europe I'm reminded of how money really doesn't buy happiness as cliche as thet sounds.
My brother got a job in London long ago, only thing he could do is rent a bedroom in a shared house
Compared to renting a house in Canada with similar wage
I always find it strange that on HN we all end up talking about London salaries and London cost of living. Believe it or not, other options exist…
Despite the reductiveness of your argument there are things people value more than just buying a big house.
The quality of life you get In Europe is superior in my opinion to the one in America. The way cities are laid out and the pervasiveness of public transit allows for a better social life.
I could go on and on but if you're going to be on this forum and engage with others you should adjust your attitude.
That's the issue, it's more like earning $60k in EU vs. $160k in the US for most Tech workers. And the latter is much, much better.
In fact, how many US Netflix employees are actually earning $500k/yr like we were discussing upthread? I doubt that's the salary of a junior frontend employee. If it is, good for them. I don't think my quality of life and happiness would change dramatically between $250k and $1M/yr, but apparently this is so hard to convey to an American audience that thinks more money == more happiness.
I’d give up my $500k/year salary to move to Europe and feel more supported if anything went wrong, but I do wonder how much support someone on a work visa in the UK/EU gets if they lose their job.
I just moved to Canada
Health care is free and I am covered on my visa
Medication / dentist is not but my company has private health insurance so I am covered for that too
Education for kids is free too
Public transport sucks but that is because I am in a small city
Europe is better connected and I’ve heard their public health care is better, but I doubt it would be too different
I don’t know at what else the social safety net in Europe would be better
Unless people want to leave miserably, they need to pay rent and food everywhere (heck, you even have food stamp in the states)
Keep in mind things tend to be cheaper in the US than in Europe
I don't care if I get private insurance in the States. I get private insurance here too, and I even use it now and again. But I care about knowing that, no matter what happens to me, ever, I won't be saddled with a life-ruining debt that wipes out what I've gained. Not without my consenting to borrow such an amount.
I'm not interested in playing snakes and ladders. I'm not interested in the equivalent of someone selling me a mortgage without my knowledge in my sleep (and with no house at the end of it). And I know that insurers - unlike the UK govt - are in the business of avoiding making payouts[0].
(That's the main thing, at least, by far. Then the salary-erasing real estate costs, in all the places where those endlessly-quoted salary figures are from, make me not-particularly-sad that I ruled it out.)
[0] I'm not imputing dishonesty. I'm just saying their literal business model is maximise premiums, minimise claims.
Yet with that salary you can afford a very nice house outside of central London, you can travel, eat at a fancy restaurant whenever you want, get the latest iDevice every year and buy a new car with cash when the old one breaks, provided you're smart with your money. To my European tastes that's living like a prince (not a king)
In the UK £200k puts you solidly in the 1% bracket - that is, 99% of people earn less than you. If that's not princely, I don't know what is.
It does not do anything for me: if I have to live in an apartment instead of a house I am not going to feel happy about it because 99% of people live in even worse apartment.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_British_prince...
I’d gladly move to the US if I didn’t have to go through their hellish immigration system (and I may leave the UK if the Brexit madness keeps degenerating).
That's not a fault of the UK salaries, it's you being terrible with your money. The US won't save you from yourself.