Categories
Antiwork

Work around the the world

It seems /antiwork sub is very focused on USA labour market, may I assure you, it´s crap everywhere. I´ll leave my situation and a snapshot of labor market in Portugal. I work on the aerospace manufacturing industry on a technical position (non-graduate) for more than 10 years and I earn 5.10eur/hour after taxes and a monthly lunch stipend, my wife is on minimum wage (3.7 eur/hour) working on an international insurance company call center and I have two children on school age. This is considered good, normal is the minimum wage. I´m on the fringe of poverty one mishap from disaster. Here the minimum wage is 705 eur/month before taxes 627 eur after taxes 3.7 eur/hour (~719 USD/~640 USD month) Its customary (not mandatory) to have a lunch stipend/allowance up to ~7.5 Eur (usually 4-5 eur) The workweek is 40 hours (public servants have 35h and some more benefits) The…


It seems /antiwork sub is very focused on USA labour market, may I assure you, it´s crap everywhere.

I´ll leave my situation and a snapshot of labor market in Portugal.

I work on the aerospace manufacturing industry on a technical position (non-graduate) for more than 10 years and I earn 5.10eur/hour after taxes and a monthly lunch stipend, my wife is on minimum wage (3.7 eur/hour) working on an international insurance company call center and I have two children on school age.

This is considered good, normal is the minimum wage.

I´m on the fringe of poverty one mishap from disaster.

Here the minimum wage is 705 eur/month before taxes 627 eur after taxes 3.7 eur/hour (~719 USD/~640 USD month)

Its customary (not mandatory) to have a lunch stipend/allowance up to ~7.5 Eur (usually 4-5 eur)

The workweek is 40 hours (public servants have 35h and some more benefits)

The payed work year is 14 months, 1 month payed vacation and 1 month as Christmas allowance.

We have a Health system tending to free, but with very long waiting times (after Covid it´s breaking apart from poor long term politics over the last 30 years even so it´s light years better that the USA model)

We have unemployment allowance if by involuntary unemployment

We have payed maternity leave for the mother and father – it varies between father and mother and it can go from 120 to 180 days

Payed sick leave between 55% – 75% of reference wage depending on length.

We have some circumstances were justified 'absences' are also payed.

Lets break down taxes for the minimum wage of 705 eur for 1 person without children:

Taxable income €705.00

IRS retention rate (income) 0.00%

IRS retention (income) – €0.00

Social Security Contribution -€77.55

Net wage €627.45 (3.73 eur/hour)

Total cost for the employer €872.44

And now for what is considered the average wage in Portugal 1310 eur for 1 person without children(beware that average wage is a fallacy)

Taxable income €1,310.00

IRS retention rate (income) 15.20%

IRS retention (income) – €199.00 (can be refunded depending on specific expenses)

Social Security Contribution -€144.10

Net wage €966.90 (5.75 eur/hour))

Total cost for the employer €1,621.13

Here is are the average expenses for a couple with no children:

Rent – T1 (1 bedroom) in the center – 600.00 (mortgage can go anywhere from 500 and up. Add municipal taxes over the value of the house)

Energy and gas – 80.00 (winter ~150)

Water – 30.00

TV, telephone and internet + 2 cell phone chips – 60.00

Supermarket – ~320.00 (double it with children)

Transport monthly pass – 80.00 (if you have car a full tank costs around 90-100 eur + insurance +- 100 eur/year and mandatory inspections +50 eur/year)

Health – insurance for 2 people (minimum coverage) – 60.00 eur (yes, NHS tending to free but you can have long waiting lists for an appointment and dentists are non existent on public health system)

Total – 1,230.00 eur

No leisure expenses accounted nor expenses with kids

Please ask any questions if you want to move here and I´ll look it up 😀

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.