The funny thing is that if you live in Europe and work for a US company, you also get the European perks. I really don't understand why more Americans don't move here
this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
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Fucking immigrants from third world countries taking our jobs /s
Perks? You mean the way of life?
Perks (US En) = basic (and not even always functioning) labour protection
If I got a job in Europe.. at this point, I'd just move to Europe.
Easier said than done, most of europe is currently governed by the far right (or 'conservative' and 'social democratic' parties that copy a lot of the far right's policies). US citizens will generally have an easier time immigrating than e.g. Syrian citizens, but the anti-immigration policies still hurt everyone.
Wtf are you on about? There are a handful of hard right govts in Europe currently, but the majority of Europe is not, in fact by US standards you'd probably consider most parties here left wing (the US Democrats would be considered a right wing party here lol)
Immigration is also quite easy for an American, definitely easier than if you're from the middle-east. If you're capable of getting a qualified/skilled job or studying you can generally stay as long as you want in most places, and native English speakers are in demand.
Do you really believe that someone like Friedrich Merz, who is pretty much the norm for EU government leaders at this point, is more progressive than a Joe Biden or Kamala Harris? The guy literally got elected with an anti-immigration campaign.
I think it's actually pretty debatable. Merz is left of Biden on some big issues, like being in favour of universal health care, and supporting unions and workers rights. One could argue that Biden is left of Merz on immigration and climate action but Germany is soooo far left of the USA there and so both of them are just pushing back towards a mid point, I very much doubt a USA under Biden would ever catch up to a Germany under Merz on those issues
Merz is left of Biden on some big issues, like being in favour of universal health care, and supporting unions and workers rights.
That's debatable. Merz clearly wants to weaken worker's rights and unions, and he doesn't exactly want to expand access to health services, either (the German health sector is quite troubled in many ways and the anti-immigration policies really don't help). His public stance on those issues is limited because of somewhat more progressive forces in his party and the established state of things in Germany, if he had free reign he would act quite differently.
CDU is center right by normal terms, so no, Merz as an individual is likely not more progressive than Biden or Harris. But because the existing systems that Biden, Harris, and Merz occupy are radically different, the ultimate effect of their politics isn't decided exclusively by some meter of how progressive they are. ~~Anti-immigration vis-a-vis Germany is very different to anti-immigration vis-a-vis the US, for example.~~ (edit: bad example)
What I mean to say is that a conservative led government in Europe, such as Germany under Merz, will still be much, much more progressive than a progressive led government in the US (i.e. hypothetically Harris with dems controlling the house and senate). This is because progressive issues like gun control and healthcare are unrealistic dreams even for Dems in the US, while they are established policy in Germany, that even Merz will not change.
So while you are right that Harris and Biden are, as individuals, more progressive than Merz, I think that in the grand scheme of things this does not show itself in the governments that they would run. This is also often what is meant with "Europe's Right is America's Left."
Edit: Merz, not Mรคrz; thanks for the correction.
Thanks, you said what I wanted to say but better. Let's not forget that CDU have been in power for the majority of the time for decades, and Germany is far left of the USA despite Democrats being in power for roughly half that same time. So the proof is in the pudding, so to speak
FYI, it's Merz, not Mรคrz.
I disagree with that. Specifically for immigration, a Democrats-led USA is much more immigration-friendly (at least in places where MAGAs are not the majority) than Germany (and probably many if not most other EU-countries) ever was, both in terms of policy and in terms of how welcoming the population is.
I've lived in both Germany and the USA (very blue state) and strongly disagree with this. It's incredibly easy and cheap to immigrate to Germany and you get the same rights as any European, in the USA you have to jump through a million hoops and constantly fight for the right to stay, you can get ejected so easily
Ah you may be right vis-a-vis immigration. Germany is not the most inviting place...
And I knew I shouldn't have trusted my autocorrect on Mรคrz! Goddamn you Google keyboard shakes fist at sky
German people are just generally not very open to talking to strangers in general, so making friends with them takes a while. But there are so many expats here that you can easily make friends with instead so it's not bad really
Ah yes. Anything to the right of communism is far right.
If you honestly believe that there's anything progressive about Labour under Keir Starmer or the German SPD, I got a bridge to sell.
So now not being progressive is far right. Also there's 2 countries in the EU. Got it.
I said that they're copying many far right policies, not that they are far right themselves.
I hope she finds the strength to leave the US and find a job and home outside of the US. The jobs in the USA are mostly exploitative - not surprising with the labor laws as weak as they are.
US applicant: "How many sick days do I get?"
German HR department: "I'm sorry what do you mean?"
US applicant: "How many days may I call in sick per year?"
German HR department: "Er... that depends on how often you get sick?!"
US applicant: "Wat."
I live in Norway and have 21 sick days. That means days that I can self report as sick. (Influenza and such) I can do this for three consecutive days I think. Then I have to get a physician to write a sick leave. For anything serious you have one year on sick leave before more long term solutions will have to be found. Sick days does not include doctors appointments (its their own quota) or home with sick child (10 days) Pregnancies are their own thing, but often you go on sick leave before birth because being pregnant while not an illness makes you feel ill. We have one year of paternity/maternity leave first three months are reserved for mother, then shares but both parents MUST take three months. (Can get around by company paying for the leave of the one supposed to go back to work.) Father gets two weeks just after birth to settle things at home.
Thanks for the input!
This exact thing happened to my partner. Her rep was like, what is a 'Sick Day'?
Does anyone else find a bit odd to phrase basic labour rights as 'perks'?
Europeans probably. Americans be like ๐ฒ
"nobody asked me questions during my maternity leave"
Yeah. Because it's the fricking law both in Germany as well as Austria. Her boss would be in hot water. 1800โฌ fine per case (means per question) up to 3600โฌ for repeat offenders. It does not change a thing if the mother offered it or not.
The Austrians are actually quite lenient with that. German law gives fines up to 30.000โฌ and in cases that are seen as endangerment of the child up to one year of prison.
We seriously do not fuck around with that here.
(The same goes for vacations)
for any fluent English speakers out there, it's a very similar situation if you want to start teaching English abroad.
20-25 teaching hours a week, sign up bonuses, airfare reimbursement, at least a couple months of vacation per year, much lower cost of living in most countries, with maybe the field-specific benefit of thousands of job openings currently available.
Plus you get an adventure the whole time you're in another country, new experiences and new cultures.
Definitely why I never went back to the work culture in the US.
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The US Labor Laws are complete shit. Period!
As an aside, it's always both a bit funny and bewildering how even the more reputable American media talk about Europe as if it were just one thing, so that, for instance, this article specifies it to Austria only several paragraphs into the text.
What? Europe isn't a country?
Not yet. Seeing as things are going with the rise of the far right, probably not for quite a while.
It sort of makes sense - in many ways the EU is more like the USA than any one individual European country is. American states have a similar variety of laws, and are quite culturally variable too (certainly much more homogenous than European cultures though).
Europe is also Russia, though. Surely, they can at least tell the difference between EU and Russia?
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