7 ms·

I would be more interested in data that shows how much money an engineer takes back home (net income) compared to the rest of the world. eg Software Engineer

by eulji 10y ago

I would be more interested in data that shows how much money an engineer takes back home (net income) compared to the rest of the world. eg Software Engineer from Atlantis earns 100 000 USD but pays 55% of tax so takes home only 45000 Software Engineer from Middle-Earth earns 60 000 USD but pays 10% tax and takes home 54000 etc

aioprisan 10y ago
You also have to take into account things like quality of life in the city vs a long commute if living in the suburb.
- sliverstorm 10y ago
  You're not wrong, but tax is certainly one of the easier first steps as part of trying to compare salaries.
  - Tloewald 10y ago
    Right, but easier doesn't mean useful. E.g. One of the easiest steps in comparing salaries across countries is exchange rate, but it's not nearly as useful as a list of local prices for commonly needed stuff. E.g. In Singapore when I last visited (quite a while back) car registration cost about $30,000 per year.
- eulji 10y ago
  Right. But a country as a whole is what I am interested in. I mean iphone costs about the same anywhere in the world ( okay it's sometimes more usually not less (Brazil?)) so there's that...
  - sjwright 10y ago
    iPhone-like items are a very small part of anyone's annual budget. What matters are housing costs, transport costs, healthcare costs and quality of life. All of which are highly variable depending on location.
    - totalrobe 10y ago
      The iPhone itself may be a small part (depending on your budget) but wireless plan costs also vary widely. I know that UK/EU plans are substantially cheaper than the US where many pay $150+ per month for a couple lines.
      - chatmasta 10y ago
        Wireless prices in the USA are higher than any other country I've been to, developed or not. Nevermind the absurd contracts. In Taiwan, for example, I got a 3G phone plan for $40 month-to-month, unlimited data, and consistently ~20mbps download speeds. In developing countries like Thailand or Central America, I can get a 3G card for 60 days and 1-2GB for less than $10. Speeds obviously aren't as good as Taiwan, but the basic access to Internet is way cheaper.
        JayJee 10y ago
        LOL come to Canada. Our wireless prices are 4x worse than USA
  - maccard 10y ago
    You can't do that really. Taking the UK, the cost of living in London is absolutely incomparable to say, Sheffield.[0] [0]http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=United+Kingdom&city1=Sheffield&city2=London&tracking=getDispatchComparison http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun...
  - raimue 10y ago
    I don't think electronic gadgets are a good item for this comparison. You might want to take a look at the Big Mac Index, which tries to give some measurement of how much your money is worth in another currency or country.
- tamana 10y ago
  And things like quality of life in the suburb vs the polluted air and noisy bright nights if living in the city.
stepny 10y ago
We're not quite there yet with the data we have :). Anecdotally though, it seems like companies in Europe pay less and take out more taxes.
- trelltron 10y ago
  Maybe, but on the flip side, I finished Uni with about £20k debt, in the most benign from that debt can take, and working in software I immediately earned more than that per year. I also never had to care about medical bills (still don't) because of the NHS. Just want to point out that there is a good reason for the higher taxes.
  - binarymax 10y ago
    Not to mention the higher level of vacation time. Starting allocation in the UK is about 25 days plus 11 bank holidays. In the USA its typically 10 days plus 9 public holidays.
    - timoth 10y ago
      The legal minimum in the UK which just about everyone is entitled to is 28 days paid holiday assuming a full time job [1]. That can include bank holidays which are 8 per year for the vast majority of the population (1 or 2 more for Scotland and Northen Ireland I think). For example, my first job was 25 days + 8 days of bank holidays and then you could earn up to 5 extra days if you stayed with the company long enough. Other jobs were all 22 + 8. [1] https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement
  - pc86 10y ago
    It's almost as if standard and cost of living are incredibly complex equations that you can't boil down into an HTML table.
    - progressive_dad 10y ago
      Let's throw schools in there... no use taking a 20k raise to move to Chicago if you have a child for instance. You'll pay more than that for the cheapest private school. If you want to use neighborhood schools you can move to Oak Park... and pay 20k in taxes instead...
Tloewald 10y ago
It's very hard to make these kinds of comparison (take a look at the Economist's Big Mac index which attempts to illustrate relative buying power in different places). Similarly income tax may be low (e.g. Texas) but property taxes, sales tax, and tolls may be high (e.g. Texas) and social services may suck (e.g. Texas). There are some cost of living calculators around which try to calculate equivalent salaries around the US but they have not been more accurate than guesswork in my experience.
wesd 10y ago
It's will be almost impossible to compare at that level since there are so many contributing factors that affects much one gets taxed. How much does the employee contribute to 401K, does he have dependents, medical claims?

by eulji 10y ago

aioprisan 10y ago

You also have to take into account things like quality of life in the city vs a long commute if living in the suburb.

sliverstorm 10y ago
You're not wrong, but tax is certainly one of the easier first steps as part of trying to compare salaries.
- Tloewald 10y ago
  Right, but easier doesn't mean useful. E.g. One of the easiest steps in comparing salaries across countries is exchange rate, but it's not nearly as useful as a list of local prices for commonly needed stuff. E.g. In Singapore when I last visited (quite a while back) car registration cost about $30,000 per year.
eulji 10y ago
Right. But a country as a whole is what I am interested in. I mean iphone costs about the same anywhere in the world ( okay it's sometimes more usually not less (Brazil?)) so there's that...
- sjwright 10y ago
  iPhone-like items are a very small part of anyone's annual budget. What matters are housing costs, transport costs, healthcare costs and quality of life. All of which are highly variable depending on location.
  - totalrobe 10y ago
    The iPhone itself may be a small part (depending on your budget) but wireless plan costs also vary widely. I know that UK/EU plans are substantially cheaper than the US where many pay $150+ per month for a couple lines.
    - chatmasta 10y ago
      Wireless prices in the USA are higher than any other country I've been to, developed or not. Nevermind the absurd contracts. In Taiwan, for example, I got a 3G phone plan for $40 month-to-month, unlimited data, and consistently ~20mbps download speeds. In developing countries like Thailand or Central America, I can get a 3G card for 60 days and 1-2GB for less than $10. Speeds obviously aren't as good as Taiwan, but the basic access to Internet is way cheaper.
      - JayJee 10y ago
        LOL come to Canada. Our wireless prices are 4x worse than USA
- maccard 10y ago
  You can't do that really. Taking the UK, the cost of living in London is absolutely incomparable to say, Sheffield.[0] [0]http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=United+Kingdom&city1=Sheffield&city2=London&tracking=getDispatchComparison http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun...
- raimue 10y ago
  I don't think electronic gadgets are a good item for this comparison. You might want to take a look at the Big Mac Index, which tries to give some measurement of how much your money is worth in another currency or country.
tamana 10y ago
And things like quality of life in the suburb vs the polluted air and noisy bright nights if living in the city.

stepny 10y ago

We're not quite there yet with the data we have :). Anecdotally though, it seems like companies in Europe pay less and take out more taxes.

trelltron 10y ago
Maybe, but on the flip side, I finished Uni with about £20k debt, in the most benign from that debt can take, and working in software I immediately earned more than that per year. I also never had to care about medical bills (still don't) because of the NHS. Just want to point out that there is a good reason for the higher taxes.
- binarymax 10y ago
  Not to mention the higher level of vacation time. Starting allocation in the UK is about 25 days plus 11 bank holidays. In the USA its typically 10 days plus 9 public holidays.
  - timoth 10y ago
    The legal minimum in the UK which just about everyone is entitled to is 28 days paid holiday assuming a full time job [1]. That can include bank holidays which are 8 per year for the vast majority of the population (1 or 2 more for Scotland and Northen Ireland I think). For example, my first job was 25 days + 8 days of bank holidays and then you could earn up to 5 extra days if you stayed with the company long enough. Other jobs were all 22 + 8. [1] https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement
- pc86 10y ago
  It's almost as if standard and cost of living are incredibly complex equations that you can't boil down into an HTML table.
  - progressive_dad 10y ago
    Let's throw schools in there... no use taking a 20k raise to move to Chicago if you have a child for instance. You'll pay more than that for the cheapest private school. If you want to use neighborhood schools you can move to Oak Park... and pay 20k in taxes instead...

Tloewald 10y ago

It's very hard to make these kinds of comparison (take a look at the Economist's Big Mac index which attempts to illustrate relative buying power in different places). Similarly income tax may be low (e.g. Texas) but property taxes, sales tax, and tolls may be high (e.g. Texas) and social services may suck (e.g. Texas). There are some cost of living calculators around which try to calculate equivalent salaries around the US but they have not been more accurate than guesswork in my experience.

wesd 10y ago

It's will be almost impossible to compare at that level since there are so many contributing factors that affects much one gets taxed. How much does the employee contribute to 401K, does he have dependents, medical claims?