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Re:Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startu... by Xylakant on Monday June 27, 2016 @12:20PM (#11987179)
american and german salaries are fundamentally not comparable if you look at the bare numbers. German salaries already include pension and healthcare for example, for which the employer pays 50% of the total, which goes on top of the salary. That alone makes a 50k EUR salary more similar to a 75k USD salary (not taking into account the exchange rate, which adds another 10% as of today). There's also at least 4 weeks of paid holidays and unlimited paid sick-leave. Rent difference can easily account for something like 1k to 2k per month. Rent is still comparatively cheap even in the most expensive and central parts of Berlin. Having 15 minutes of travel to the office instead of hours can also change the equation massively, at least if you're looking at your quality of life. The crucial number is how much money is left in your bank account after all your expenses are paid for - and that can vary massively depending on your personal lifestyle. The salary before taxes and other costs is a fairly uninteresting figure.
Re:Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startu... by p4wnc6 on Wednesday June 29, 2016 @01:24AM (#11999667)
In 3 out of the 4 jobs I've had in America, I have paid zero premium for health insurance (100% paid by employer), and had either 4 or 5 weeks of vacation (not including between 9 and 12 company holidays too).

Even with the exchange rate, my base salary was more than triple the $50k euros amount, and I have < 4 years of experience. I am a specialist in my area which makes my case a bit harder to compare, but still, the offer of provided healthcare and 4 weeks vacation doesn't make foreign jobs more attractive to me. I've had that in almost every American job I've had and also was paid a wage that was high enough to comfortably exceed local cost of living. In fact, I generally find that when an employer has to start nervously listing side perks like medical coverage or vacation as apologetic offerings to excuse an obviously poor salary relative to cost of living, it's a huge red flag that they know they are not equipped to recruit exceptional people.

In all my comments I am already talking about how much money you have left after general cost of living expenses. Even though such costs are lower in Berlin than in many major US cities, the salaries in Berlin are even lower at a disproportional level. Unless you adopt a more ascetic lifestyle, your lower salary in Berlin will not stretch as far despite the lower costs. The costs, while lower, aren't low enough.