If they all are all happy and free to chart their own destiny - why are those contract things then pretty much standard in the US (as it seems to me)?
And maybe things are not perfect on either side of the atlantic?
I would be fine with less regulations and hire and fire here in europe btw - but I would be not OK, having to sign such contracts. But I don't see, why we can't have both. Meaning employee respecting contracts - but not mandated from above.
They aren't standard by any means.
When things that we are used to (but unhappy with) because our jobs involve a lot of proprietary technological secrets trickle down to sandwich shop minimum wage workers…it’s not worth saying that they’re not standard.
There’s a reason that multiple state legislatures are working to ban noncompetes entirely, and it’s not because they’re uncommon.
What about the European system prevents that for the employee?
Otherwise we surely can do this in europe as well, just with a little bit more friction.
1. Less employment opportunities due to no VC funding, and risk averse mentality of entrepreneurs meaning next to no EU SW product companies. That's why the best paying jobs in EU tech scene are mostly US companies.
2. Language barriers and bureaucracy differing from country to country means huge friction and risk when moving to a country you're not familiar with, along with the added overhead of learning a new language on top of having a full time job plus the challenge of building new social circles with a different culture.
This might even be a fun challenge when you're young and single, but when you have a spouse and maybe even a child, things get even more complicated fast when it comes to immigration, especially if your spouse doesn't work in tech or any other career where English is normalized at work or even needs her credentials translated and locally equivalated by the authorities.
A friend of mine got laid off as part of his company going bankrupt with his last two wages going unpaid. The bureaucracy, letter bombardment and appointments in dealing with the authorities to try to recoup those two months wages, all in German, a foreign language to him(and me), makes the experience completely exhausting and I can feel he just wants to give up.
Imagine someone from Ohio having to learn a new language when moving to California or New York. Not having to deal with bureaucracy in a foreign language for every state is a huge asset for the US and a weakness of the EU labor mobility.
3. Racism, xenofobia, discrimination and glass ceilings from the locals, when you come from the "wrong" country.
#4 is definitely a bit of an issue. Europe is surprisingly regressive, even compared to the US. Lots of rude comments towards non-white coworkers.
Totally not true at all. Maybe in northern Europe but it's definitely not my experience in Austria. Language barrier is defiantly an issue here, especially outside the SW dev world.
Plenty of government offices you have to interact with don't or don't want to speak English (mostly due to older grumpy staff). Plenty of police officers don't speak English (also the older staff). Plenty of doctors, nurses and specialists don't speak English. Plenty(most?) companies outside of SW require German knowledge. Plenty of landlords and building management companies or utility companies don't speak or don't want to speak English. The list can go on, especially if you mostly land with older staff memebers. The language barrier is real. Sure, sometimes you can get lucky and land a young contact person who speaks great English and will want to help you, but that's quite rare, most will tell you "nur Deutsch" and then you're shit out of luck as a lot of the issues need to be solved over the phone or in person.
Saying English is all you need to get by is a gross over-exaggeration and does not match the srruggles me and my friends had here at all. Sure, you can order a beer and a pizza in English just fine, but any and all official bureaucracy needs to be done in the local language, not in English, often on the phone or in person, on paper and the spot, without the possibility to easily google translate the thing you're signing, like you can on web forms. And believe me, there's a lot of paper work: contracts, insurance forms, complaints, etc.
Also, it's respectul to learn the local language to integrate, unless you want to make life difficult for yourself, and live in isolation in exapt only bubbles.
Every system could be improved and if you prefer one the other isn't by default inherently evil.
People within both systems can suck.
I'm from Africa and both places are like heaven on earth in comparison.
I've always found it much easier to "chart my own destiny" when my healthcare is guaranteed, forever, for free, whether I have a job or not.
Here on earth, what you wrote is much closer to the truth. The American economy is awash with opportunities to work for small businesses, with employees free to move around and chart their own destiny.