The American Dream: To get the hell out of America and live happier, fair and content lives.

Walmart also doesn't exist in Australia for the same reasons it's not in Germany 🥰 We don't want these companies here that don't follow our fair work laws

I am from Russia, and it's very strange to realise that our country with a totalitarian system and a dangerous dictator still does better when it comes to labour laws. We have 18 months of paid maternity leave (plus 18 more unpaid, if you choose to have it). We get 4 weeks of vacation, if you're a full time worker. If you don't use all vacation days, they can be moved to the next year, or you can just get the extra money for the vacation you didn't have. Sick days are separated from vacation days, and they are also partially paid. For example, my wife was treated for lymphoma this year. Not only she got all of the sick days she needed to go to chemo and radiation, her boss actually scolded her that she didn't use two weeks of last year's vacation and begged her to use them. So this year she got six weeks of vacation total PLUS all the sick days she needed WITH pay.

The USA is not a country it is a business

mc donalds initially tried to avoid unions and employee legislation in Denmark but it seriously backfired because the subcontractors refused to deliver goods to mc donalds so they had to learn it the hard way! follow the law or get kicked out. I am so proud of the subcontractors who supported the employees and the legislation.

Most other countries value people and their well-being. America values corporations and profits.

Hi, Nate! A Swedish-speaking Finlander here. In addition to fair labor laws there's one other thing that determines whether a country gives its citizens an opportunity to improve the quality of their lives, to work at a profession that they love and are good at, and in that way to contribute to the overall wellbeing of their country, and that is FREE EDUCATION all the way, up to and including the PH.D. level. This goes for vocational schools, as well. This is what we've done here in Finland and it has helped turn a previously rather poor, agricultural land into the modern Nordic welfare state that we know today.

Even in Victorian Britain, in A Christmas Carol, Scrooge gave Bob Cratchitt, Tiny Tim's father, a paid holiday for Christmas day. This novel by Charles Dickens was a critique of workers exploitation by their employers. The USA makes Scrooge look good in comparison. Greetings from Ireland 🇮🇪.

Italy here. I have a 37.5 hour work week, Monday to Friday, which is considered full time. I have 30 paid vacation days per year, which is six weeks. I've never been called in on my day off, in 36 years. We have a ton of other issues, but if we can make it work here, any industrialized country can, believe me.

The phrase : It´s not a hard Job literally makes my Blood boil. The amount of insults, harassment and abuse US Employees in any kind of Service related Industry go thru on a daily basis is Horrendous !. And all of that for underpaid Slave Labour with little to no Benefits. I really hope that one Day, our friends in the US will be treated like Assets and not liabilities by Employers. Just like in the rest of the World.

I have seen many Americans react to this video since Second Thought first released it. I always end up feeling for them when its revealed in fact that the US is not the greatest place in the world at least not anymore for ordinary working people. It's heaven for the corporate elite but for ordinary people modern America is actually quite hellish. The American Dream is long gone, now America as a nation is slowly dying as the greed of the corporate elite - who can pay the politicians to make laws that suit them - and that is sad.

For may years I managed a team of around 80 technical support staff here in Scotland. As the manager it was my responsibility to prepare rotas and schedule shifts at least one month in advance to ensure we were never short staffed. But people do get sick, we know that, so the schedules always had contingency for this built in. If we did happen to fall short though, I only had to ask the team (usually just a group email) if anyone wanted overtime or an extra shift. It was guaranteed that several would willingly volunteer. Of course they were paid double-time for the extra work. If they gave up a day off to help they would get double time PLUS a day in Liew to take whenever they wanted. If the worst came to the worst (very rare), myself or one of the other managers would step and cover, of course we got paid for it too. I would NEVER even consider contacting someone on holiday (vacation). Like you say Nate, make your workers feel valued and they'll be there for you when you need them.

Thank you for addressing this topic, it is important that we are having this conversation. When I first moved to Arizona as a military spouse, I was offered a job as a teacher assistant. I have my bachelors degree and over 20 years of experience working with children, they were only going to pay me 50 cents over minimum wage. After putting my 2 children in after school care ($100 a week) and not getting paid for holidays and school breaks, I was only going to get paid $7,000 a year! I turned down the job and I am heartbroken that our education system does not pay our support staff and teachers a fair wage. It is absolutely ridiculous!

And almost twice as many hours than the Germans. In Germany we say:if you can't do your job during worktime ,you do something wrong.

In Portugal, it's illegal to call a worker outside work hours. You can sue the boss or company for doing that

Hi Nate, I'm from Germany, and I only just found your channel today. I watched this video and the "Why America sucks at everything" one. I've of course always known that things aren't as socially just in the US as they are over here, but the more I learn about it, the more baffling and devastating it becomes. From a European perspective, the US really is a dystopia, and it's so sad to see that most of the people who truly *see* that are the ones who want to (and luckily for them achieve to) get out of there. I'm really so worried for the state of things over there, especially with the recent political developments that are stripping more and more rights from people, either on behalf of the capitalist machinery, or evangelical conservatives and their outdated values. Either way, those were two very powerful videos, and very hard to swallow, too. Especially seeing the devastation on your face when you are confronted with all those things in such condensed form. I am wishing you good luck to be able to move here to Germany so you and your wife can life a better, happier life together. No idea what area you're going to move to, but - unlikely as that is - if you're ever somewhere near Mainz, I'd buy you and your wife a Riesling or a beer ;-) Alles Gute und liebe Grüße! And thanks for your insightful yet heartbreaking/infuriating videos! Sandra

I am impressed with how you can watch these videos and not break down in tears. I don't even live in the US (only been there twice for vacations) and I tear up a bit, even after seeing multiple reactions to videos like this.

I guess the ironic thing for me living in Germany is that i usually take one maybe two weeks of my vacation time per year. Then at the end of the year my boss comes around and basically forced me to take the rest.

On the first item : I live in Belgium and work for the freighttrains. When a colleague is ill and I have a day off, my chef can call me to ask if I come to work, but he can't force me. If I have other plans, I won't come to work. And if I go to work, I get an extra 75 € net fee.

Come to Australia and get your mind blown at the quality of life here.

Nate, Aussie here. I've seen this vid many times & it never fails to break my heart to see how poorly American workers are treated. When I was much younger would have loved to have travelled to the US, sadly not now. Down here we have nationally mandated work entitlements such as sick leave, annual leave & parental leave. Depending on your work & Co most people get 4-5 wks annual leave, 10 days sick leave which can roll over into the following year & accrue if not used. But I think uniquely in the world is after 8 yrs (depending on which Co you work for) you are entitled to 6 mths paid long sevice leave. If you add long service leave & annual leave you can have one hell of a blow out holiday. I feel your pain & frustration brother. We have MANY Americans who have made the HUGE decision to up stakes & migrate down under to this wonderful broad, brown beautiful land. Not perfect by any means but still a pretty nice place to call home

My country, Slovakia, has one of the longest parental leaves, full three years (paid). Or full six years, if the child needs special care. And it doesn't have to be the mother, the father can be the one staying with the child, although it's not that common. Everyone has also 20 or 25 free days at work and in most of the jobs also another 15 days because of national holidays, so it's 35-40 free days a year.

Australia introduced the 8 hour day to the world decades ago although these days in most industries we now work 37.5 hrs per week. We also have 3 months long service leave. We have good working conditions and benefits.

"nations we bombed into oblivion take better care of their citizens" sums it up. No more, no less...

Germany might not be perfect but it's a hell of a lot better than the US. I know someone who studied in Germany for a total of 5 years and absolutely loved it. He nows lives here in Montréal, Québec, Canada and is very happy. He speaks 4 languages and works as a healthcare professionnal. Oh, we have problems but nowhere near what you guys have south of the border. Hope you make it out ASAP and can live as a human, be it Germany or wherever you hang your hat. Wishing you the best! Love your reactions!

I feel your pain buddy. Its hard to love your country and still be deeply disappointed with it. I hope your videos can make other US citizens open their eyes and not buy into this American dream stuff that's not exactly benefitting poor people. What you are doing is important and not just for making European feel better about themselves. As you said we got our issues as well.

It's the same in Sweden if you are sick during your holiday. Going to the doctor is 15 dollar, medicin is subsidized so everyone can afford it. We have about the same parental leave as our neighbors, 18 month is max and both parents can share that time and 10 days when the child is born, everyone uses.

Come to germany. We need more sensitive hard working guys like you..

I've lived and worked in the US previously (30 years ago) I was relieved to move back to Australia,America is a very tough country to live in,I sincerely hope that you enjoy your new life in Germany.

Ernsthaft da weiß man wozu Gewerkschafter gut sind. Ich bin zwar fast der erste der sich aufregt wenn gestreikt wird weil ich den Bus nicht benutzen kann oder das Flugzeug oder oder oder . Aber unter dem Strich ist eine starke Gewerkschaft ist wichtig für die Gesellschaft. Auf der anderen Seite muss sich der Arbeitgeber und seine Seite stark sein .Ein gerechter Ausgleich zwischen beiden Seiten ist wichtig und macht die Gesellschaft stark und kann so wachsen. Nur im Konsens können Probleme gelöst werden.

UK here. Some years back we had a rush job in the lab to prep seed crystals for production. This entailed the whole team working shift-about 24/7 to keep the machinery running. The guys doing this were on time and a half PLUS time off in lieu. We all mucked in from the director down. I was NOT included on the shift rota... because I was the guy who knew how to fix the kit if it went wrong BUT I was on a retainer being paid a per-diem to make myself available at 20 minutes notice 24/7 (I lived 10 minutes walk away from work). It was ENTIRELY voluntary, everyone from top to bottom mucked in and it was a VERY well rewarded two weeks. The fact that the director of R&D was camped out in his office on a camp bed also working shifts with us definitely demonstrated that "we are all in this together". This was well worth doing especially as we were all on salary so IN THEORY we were not entitled to overtime. If you pay people well and look after them they will work for you happily. If you just exploit them they are always going to be looking for a better position elsewhere. We had a hell of a party when we finished :-)

Go live your best life Nate. Not top of the charts here, but so much better than America. With love from Scotland

Hello Nate, this ist unbelievable. Come to Germany soon if ist's possible! Greetings from Berlin.

Great comments👍👍Nate! What I really don't understand is why the US people don't stand up against this payed slavery. The situation is like the 19th century in Europe. In the 20th century laborers fought for a lot of rights and they got al these rights. And the Eu countries did not end up as communist countries, but societies for the people.

In my Nordic country (not Denmark) MCDonald workers are trainees for the first year earning about 8-9 €/hour. After a year they get rise to about 11 €/h. Working in evenings, nights and sundays pays more. Average wage being about 15-16 €/h. There's also annual leave about 24 days.

I'm not surprised at the amount of people who go on shooting sprees, in USA. The stresses of ordinary working people, just trying to survive, would be intolerable to people in most other countries.

Return to Germany! You won't regret it ... hurry up as life is short! :-/ Thanks for reacting to this video I recommended (as maybe others) and for sharing your opinion!

Hey Nate, you are correct on being sick during holiday time off in Germany: you'll get your PTO days back. We have a quadruple metric ton of problems here in Germany. Affordable houses, prices for renting an apartment, the upcomig natural gas crisis, companies influencing politics on a ridiculous degree and what not. But at least I'm treated well at work. I have never EVER in my 24 years working been called in on a PTO. When I'm on PTO, I'm on PTO. Full stop. My colleagues and my manager don't even try to reach me. I'm probably kilometres away, I can't help them anyway. BTW: if you have to work on a Sunday or public holiday in Germany you get paid a compensation and that is often quite a lot. Man, I'm really waiting for the video where you apologize for a little less videos for some weeks because you have found a job somewhere you like and you are now busy moving house. Fingers crossed for your search 🤞

As a Costa Rican, I appreciate that you took the time to distinguish USA from the rest of the continent

This is truly depressing. I work in a well-known UK retail company and we have to work all bank holidays except xmas day and easter sunday. To make up for that though, they give us 7 weeks paid holiday a year. I can take like 4-5 weeks off over summer if I want and even though our weather is shite, it's such a nice break. We can just book a cheap flight over to spain if we wana get away to a nice beach and get some sun. My friend worked for a big confectionary company here in the UK and she got pregnant in 2020 during covid and was told to stay home while pregnant for her and the baby's safety. She got full pay at like £1500+ and even when she finally had the baby, she got another year or something off still at full pay.

You both nailed it! I have seen the original video before and your reaction to it is quite on point as well. I'm preparing to move back to Germany soon, after living in the US over 3 decades and it is mostly for financial reasons. I'm scared of being old and alone is this country and I don't see any positive changes within my lifetime. While my friends and family in Germany are concerned for me because "It's not like it used to be", they have no idea just how bad it is in the United States. I have struggled to keep my head above water for decades, working multiple jobs with little or no paid time off. Just the thought of having 4+ weeks of paid vacation is a dream come true and while cost for housing has gone up a lot in Germany, it is still a about half or less than the going rate in my area in Massachusetts. There are so many beautiful places in the United States I never got to see, because I can't afford to take time off to visit them. I also hadn't been home for 27 years because I couldn't afford to. Ironically, I will be more likely to go visit the National Parks while living in Germany, than while living here. I know Germany is not perfect and I'm sure there will be plenty of things (and of course people) I will miss, but I didn't make the decision to move back lightly. Just the fact that the natural surroundings I will have easy access to even if I don't have a car, is reason enough to go back. Also that it won't be hard to find an apartment where pets are allowed, which is nearly impossible around here. What I will do when I'm back home, is point out all the American mistakes Germany is repeating, like for profit hospitals. I will also make some noise about the lack of consumer protection when it comes to malpractice by going after the professionals who caused my mothers death. I have learned a thing or two while living here in the United States and am aware that no place is perfect, but Germany still does come out on top and I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life there. Germany will weather the storm and I am no foreigner to struggle. "Wir schaffen das." ~ Angela Merkel Which area will you be moving to in Germany? I'll be in Oberfranken, hopefully by Christmas!

In the Australian military you don't lose your leave if you don't use it. They force you to keep your leave under the 30 day mark unless you can show you have a plan to reduce it such as a long break if it possible due to position or operational reasons, but you don't lose it. And I always felt bad about the pay gap when comparing the US and Aus military. We always tried to shout you guys when we could. The last few companies I've worked for, it's been 35 days leave, paid public holidays, and the week between Christmas and New Years Day was free leave not taken out of your accrued leave. Even as an Australian, it frustrates me how you guys get treated.

This is so sad, I cant even imagine what working life in America feels like. 😒

I have been working for 6 years in an american multinational in 2 of their entities in Europe (Ro and Be). As of 2 years we have been bought by a group that’s backed by an investment fund. I cannot believe the amount of times I’ve had to say and write in emails the phrase “i’m sorry, that will no be possible, it is illegal here” when discussing about taxes and paying contractors and employees and when explaining why half the office is off at various times during the year. I am very open with my colleagues in the us when they ask about what the labour laws are in my country and what benefits we receive from the same company - i feel also very sad that my colleagues sometimes sound so defeated in their acceptance that what is going on in the US is normal. It infuriates me, honestly that the same people in management are aware that their business can be profitable abroad even with all the regulation, and have no issue exploiting their own brothers and sisters back in their home country. For example, because of bad management and poor planning by people that have a questionable understanding of anything outside of the US, our company has cashflow issues this quarter so they are considering cost cutting measures (we got an email sugar coating this just 2 days ago - company wide). My direct manager (irish and quite high in the management scheme) had a meeting with us so we can organize a town hall meeting next week with all our colleagues in our international entities so we can reassure everyone that the email does not apply to us. His words: they will fire people in the US. We don’t have to worry about it. There is some impact on not raising salaries this year and delaying bonuses, freezing hirings, but no one is losing their jobs. In Be where I work, it is mandated by law that the minimum salary gets adjusted for inflation every year so the raise for us still occurs, just not anything additional that the company might have given of their own accord. But my colleagues in the US are noticeably very concerned. We have spent the last 2 months making sure that all the people working on our account are all funded resources by our customer so that we do not lose people that are needed to not lose business and then have to fire more people. It is insane! And they had the gaul to say that these are preventive measures to ensure the company survives troubled times, when it is known that it was bad planning on their side making overly best case predictions. The higher ups won’t suffer, my colleagues abroad won’t suffer that much, but some of the ones in the US are gonna get screwed. And it’s not the first time. 3rd time in 6 years that layoffs have exclusively been done only in the US. Really sad. Honestly, we’re not happy with our employment conditions, it’s not perfect and many minimum wage workers suffer here as well and everywhere, and we occasionally erupt - see france over the retirement age, but my god! i cannot understand how you in the US have become so complacent. I would have been rioting in the streets.

Hi Nate, thank you for reacting to this video. I hope it wasn't too hard. I grew up in Germany with the notion of the American Dream. Over the years I realized that it is not the way it was told us. It's quite shocking to see how things are across the pond and I watched some other videos you reacted to and others like that. What you said about being happy is so important. I have a job, a roof over my head, I have very good health insurance, I'm paid fairly and I have 35 paid vacation days. Still I'm not happy with my job and the place where I live. So, I want to change that, but I always remind myself: "You are complaning on a very high level!" Being happy, healthy and having family and friends is so important. I hope you can move to Germany ASAP. If we should ever meet, I'll buy dinner.

Hi Nate! I’ve watched some of your videos every now and then. They often make me feel a bit sad because it’s so easy to see how badly you want to leave the US. Good luck from Finland!

You deserve better, Nate! I for one am looking forward to your video where you show us around your new German home. Germany will be lucky to have you, just keep on making the videos once you've finally moved!

Navy Veteran. I see it too, even though i barely spent time abroad. I am very perceptive to the doublespeak of our country’s propaganda and lies. I’m tired of working to survive while my family has no father/husband because I have work everything I had at the end of each day. I had to take my only week of paid vacation this year to catch up on work I needed to do at home. I want a break. Im burned out, and have been for a long time. This country doesn’t care about its workers anymore.

Regarding seasonal workers: There is actually a system for that in Germany, too. For example the building industry has a so called "Winterbauumlage", to ensure that people who work construction are still resonable secure during the winter.

It's good to see a reaction channel actually reacting beyond shaking their head, saying "man ..." "wow ..." Good content, good context, good coverage, good example. Gotta sub! I'm a Dane, myself, and the amount of bull that the lower income workers deal with in the US is mind boggling to me. The minimum wage in Denmark, for someone who isn't educated in their field, is $17.06 (127.25 DKK) Even that is hard to get by with, if you want to live in an apartment with more than one room. Wtf do the people in charge think their workers are going to do with $7.25?? It pisses me off and it hurts me, and like I said, I'm not even American!

American people - you deserve better, much better.

14:00 I was in a relationship with someone who lived outside Bellingham, WA. When he visited me in France, he was shocked I was renting a 90m2 in the country, with a yard, a fireplace and a barn for 520€. And I was more shocked when he first told me he was renting a trailer, A TRAILER, for 1200 USD 1h30 away from Seattle 😲 That's insane!!

Nate, I fully understand your point and I also see that the "Greatest Nation" is in many subjects at the lowest end of any 3rd-world- country. But the worst thing is, that they refuse to realize this. It's beneficial for that slavery-based economy not to provide any paid holidays for travelling to other countries because then employees would possibly see the difference and get their eyes opened about their hopeless reality. Well done, well commented, pack your stuff and get over to Germany as soon as possible, you will be welcomed here.

Hi Nate, I live in Scotland and am very happily retired now. I was fortunate to have worked in a job where I could retire with a good pension after thirty years (retired at fifty) I had 32 days paid holidays a year. I’m curious, if you have to work on a public holiday ie Christmas Day, do you get paid extra? we would get double time for that as I’m sure others jobs would too. Even the language used by employers in the US, they describe as ‘benefits’ what other countries refer to as ‘rights’. You may want to have a look at David Cross: Why America Sucks at Everything, I don’t think I have seen your reaction to that or you may want to skip it as too depressing. I hope you get to be happy in Germany very soon!

Its why they call it land of the free .. FREE LABOUR

Austrian here: Our 38 paid days off aren't always those 38 days. It is complicated. I hope you can follow. By law: If typical workdays are Mo-Fr (most offices for example), have 25 paid days off + every weekend (so 5 full weeks + every remaining weekend). If they have to work on the weekend they will be compensated for that with an addition to their hourly pay. If weekends can be counted as "typical" as well (tourism and the like), then they get 35 paid days off (so they now "include" the weekends for those 5 full weeks) plus 2 days per week for the rest of the year. So basically the same, but one group definitely gets the weekend off and the other any two days of the week. The max to work in a row is 10 days. The max work hours per week is 60 (but the average of I think 13 weeks is 48 hours per week - we have a lot of these "absolute caps" that make this pretty complicated. I will not explain them any further). The max hours per shift is 12. Following at least 11 hours of rest. At least one full set of 36 hours rest per week. Lastly, the rest of those 38 days (or 48 for the weekend workers), are public holidays. There are of course people working on those days, but they get compensated extra for that. Mostly +100%. If it happens to fall on a sunday and your are in tourism for example you could also be paid +200 percent for that (under certain circumstances). For everyone: If you take a vacation including a public holiday, you will not use one of your paid days for that particular day! BUT if you are a Mo-Fr worker and a holiday falls on a weekend you actually sort of "lose it", because you already are off work that day. Our labor union actually gives out a calendar marked with the 25 days off for any starting year, so you can "get the best deal" out of your paid vacation. We still have enough problems. Personally I think the reason is that a lot of people never actually learned/understood what their rights as workers are and are scared to lose their job or don't "want any trouble", so they just take the injustice. (Probably too complicated) Also we basically have unlimited sick days (with a doctors note) - they are monitored of course and you are punished when you abuse that system - and we have a quite awesome paid paternity leave program and universal healthcare and free education and an unemployment benefit (which is an insurance and doesn't "pay forever" - it actually has to actively try to get you back into a job) and "minimum security" after that. There's even more, but this comment is long enough. Greetings from Vienna.

16:30 wait that means part time employees ARE NOT health insured? Wtf is wrong with these lawmakers??? In Germany everything starting at 451€ monthly salary is subject to social insurance

Hi Nate, seen this vid before. But it still makes me realise why I’m grateful to live in EUROPE! ……..Stay safe me hearty 👍😎😎🇬🇷🥃⚓️🇬🇧

Croatia here. I've worked in the supermarket for 5 years in a seriously understaffed section. Only 2 times in these five years I've been asked if I could fill in on my day off ( both times because somebody had an accident at work). I did come, and both times I got my day off back ( rescheduled for later in the week or next week I had 3 days off). You don't mess with days off here.

I am glad you are bringing this info to the people. It beyond time people woke up to the damage these companies are doing to our nations people. You have to rise up and put a stop to it.

Love your content Nate. You're a genuine human being. From Australia here and its been a long while since having kids but Im sure my wife got 3 months paid leave which she took as 6 months at half pay. I literally gave my employer 2 days notice when our first was born and took 4 weeks vacation. Wasn't an issue. Like all countries we also have issue. House prices, inflation has ramped up. That said I wouldnt trade shoes with you. Im happy living in the land down under.

I think socially the Germans would lose respect of the manager if they couldn’t organize well enough to avoid it . It would be frowned upon. And employers would lose face. Germans , order is a big deal.

Walmart bought a supermarket chain in the UK. It screwed down the overheads and kept prices low. It worked for a couple of years, but gradually customers drifted off to other supermarkets, because the quality of goods was poor, and the shopping experience had deteriorated. Eventually, after Walmart had proved that their working practices didn't work in the UK, they sold the business and walked away from it.

Only now discovering your channel but its great work. Poland here to share our perspective. Although we also do 40 hours work week, we get 26 paid days of vacation, paid sick leave (80%), 1 year maternity leave and extra days off on top of the 26 for when your kids are sick. We also get mandatory overtime pay - if we have to work extra its paid (there are caps on max overtime an employee can make). 150% or sometimes can take time of in lieu. State healthcare too ✌️latest new law dictates that if you sign an agreement with the employer to work from home you get a subsidy towards electricity costs. Poland has a lot of issues but the labour law is strong with this one. Cheers!! 😁

I'm so sorry for you americans. I really, really hope you can move soon. You will like Germany. It's a nice country. If you don't like it, come to Norway. It's nice here too :)

Fun fact: Most of the basic workers protection laws were not invented by "socialists" but by Bismarck a conservative to the bone about 140 years ago. He had two reasons a) to keep the socialist parties down and b) to keep the young men healthy for the military, because in the early industrialisation days even young children had to work and often were not able to join the military when they were grown up, because they were already so physically destroyed that ...

Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to loose but your chains.

In trumps words ,, Make America great again“. Well I am 20 still in school. I am from Germany, so greetings from Germany.

This man is speaking out of pure experience. Like a real man., Young folks, listen to him.

Hi Nate, here in the UK, British people will agree it is not perfect, no Country can ever be perfect. But in the UK, if you are on Holiday, then you are on Holiday as simple as that. Sick leave which is treated differently to holiday leave. If you are sick then you are on sick leave and you will be paid. Good luck to your German job search, keep looking!! don't give up

I'm Canadian in Toronto, Ontario and have worked with U.S. colleagues. They were often left confused over our labour laws, especially those around parental and pregnancy leave. Birth mothers who take pregnancy leave are entitled to up to 61 weeks’ leave. Birth mothers who do not take pregnancy leave and all other new parents are entitled to up to 63 weeks’ parental leave. Parental leave is not part of pregnancy leave; a birth mother may take both pregnancy and parental leave. In addition, the right to a parental leave is separate from the right to pregnancy leave. For example, a birth father could be on parental leave at the same time the birth mother is on either pregnancy leave or parental leave. Employees on leave have the right to continue participation in certain benefit plans and continue to earn credit for length of employment, length of service, and seniority. Employees must be given back their old job at the end of their pregnancy or parental leave or offered equivalent. An employer cannot penalize an employee in any way because the employee is/will be eligible or for taking/planning to take a pregnancy/parental leave. Our standards aren't as high as in Europe (I have family and friends in UK, France, Denmark, and U.S.) but better protected compared to parts of U.S. However, a lot of companies are going down the path of U.S. here so we have to fight to vote the right people in place to protect and expand on labour laws. For the curious (at time of writing): Ontario is in the process of legislating a 4-day work week pilot. Hopefully this passes. We recently passed a "right to disconnect" law. Employers that employ 25 or more employees must have a written policy on disconnecting from work in place. The term “disconnecting from work” is defined to mean not engaging in work-related communications, including emails, telephone calls, video calls or sending or reviewing other messages, to be free from the performance of work. Companies can still have policies where you have to be connected depending on the job but with a clear policy in place, you can set expectations and can't be taken advantage of and know ahead of time what you're getting yourself into if you decide to work there. With a Right to Disconnect policy, employers can't even ask you to come in on your time off because then can't even technically contact you to even ask. Unless your position is already considered an essential/emergency/on-call one. Vacation Time - If you work 5 years or less at company, you get minimum (by law) 2 weeks vacation time per year, 5 years or more at a company then it's minimum 3 weeks vacation per year. Larger companies will usually start off with 3 weeks vacay and bump you to 4 weeks after a couple of years. Vacation Pay - If you work 5 years or less, you're entitled to 4% vacation pay of your total GROSS pay (before taxes, deductions, etc.), if you work 5 years of more then you get 6%. Personal Emergency Leave - Can be up to 10 days off each year. At least 2 of these days must be paid if you've been working for employer at least a week. Employees can use the leave because they need it for themselves or because of the needs of a family member. Statutory Holidays & Overtime - 9 paid statutory holidays that you get off but if you happen to work on those holidays then you get paid what's called "time and a half" - 1.5 times your regular pay. Same for overtime. By law your employer can schedule you to work no more than 44 hours a week at regular pay. Anything more is considered overtime and you get paid time and a half. We also have a 3-hour rule. So if you normally work at least 3 hours or more during a shift and get called in/scheduled but you are sent home before 3 hours, your employer has to pay you for the full 3 hours.

In Sweden we have Four weeks every year, but older persons get five weeks Holiday.

Not only 5 weeks of vacation in Austria, your monthly wage is paid 14 times per year, unlimited sick days, weekly full time is mostly 38.5 hours.

7.46 million dollar millionaires and well over 700 billionaires live in the US. This means that every 44th US American is at least a dollar millionaire. That doesn't even include people with million-dollar real estate, just those with financial assets. The USA maximized capitalism in the worst way a long time ago. That is why there are so many extremely rich and, unfortunately, so many extremely poor people in this country. The unbelievable amount of money in this country is of course often earned on the backs of the people, with state help of course. The politicians in the parliament and congress and everything that steers the whole country and the individual states are also millionaires to a very large extent. In combination with the millions of very rich people in this country, the domestic political direction is naturally determined. Since there are many more rich people in the U.S. every year - very many of whom have benefited massively in this pandemic - that will probably never change. For me, the U.S. is heading into very dark times for very many people in this country, not to mention the extreme political divide.

I am a truck driver. I work 9 months of the year, 3 months i am at home. I still have a house and a BMW 535 and a WV Golf GTI 5 in my garage....enjoynit...

The Netherlands here. I had 6 weeks payd vacation a year, unlimited sick days, 14 salaries per year (may 2 and december also 2, so 12 months plus 2 extra). no calls in my vacation.....

People say its not a hard job but would they be prepared to do it? I don't think so.

Hi Nate. I am also an American (in North Carolina) considering moving to Germany. Still have quite a ways to go with learning German, but I'm getting a little bit better every day. Hopefully in the not too distant future I will be able to take the skills that I have developed working here in the US and find a job in Germany that will allow me to move there.

I just discovered this channel today, and immediately subscribed. The honest, righteous rage of a decent guy who just wants his fellow citizens to live with dignity is very compelling. Thank you very much.

About being called in to work, I don't know about Germany, but here in France they can call and ASK if you can cover someone's shift, but you are free to say no and they can't retaliate in any shape or form. But even if you agree, they have to make sure that A- it doesn't infringe on the legal obligation to have 2 consecutive days off a week and B- if it's overtime (labor week is 35 hours), or on a Sunday, or during a night shift, they have to pay you 1.5 times your regular wage. This cannot in any case interrupt your vacation time, only your regular 2 days off a week, except for strategic public servants like policemen or hospital workers, in case of emergency like when we had all those terrorist attacks in 2015-2018. Another awesome rule we have here in France : if you're sick during your vacations, then the doctor gives you a sick leave and your vacation time corresponding to the sick is recredited by your employer for you to use at another time. So we get 5 weeks a year of fully paid vacations. Let's say I took 2 weeks off and after the first week, I got sick and the doctor prescribed a one week sick leave. Well upon return to work I get 4 weeks left to use instead of 3. You're supposed to enjoy your holidays, not to be stuck in bed.

Just one thing: Here in Italy saturday and sunday are not considered as working days, so if you have, for example, 10 days of paid vacation left, you can use them for the 5 working days of the first week and 5 second week and you have 2 full week vacation plus 2 week end days of the week before. I don't know if it's the same in all Europe but i think so. The problem with the definition "land of opportunities" it's that it's true for entrepreneurs, but because there are low taxes (obv, no services=no taxes), no workers right and bad environmental laws, so, yes, it's a lot easier to start a company, but not in the good way... Anyway next time come to Italy :)

Hey Nate. Great video, once again. I found your channel a few days ago, and I have honestly been binging your "American Reacts" every day. I am a French native (actually grew up in Germany as well) living in the Midwest USA for almost the past decade. I can't tell you HOW MUCH I want to move back to Europe... I've had some good experience in the USA, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fear every other day. Fear of getting shot, fear of having an accident, health issues... And yes, the EU is not "perfect", and crime exists there too of course. But man... as a EU citizen, you don't realize the PRIVILEGE, or should I say: the protected RIGHTS that you have, until you move out to a country like the USA... It is very sad. I feel very sad for many US citizens... I currently am planning my return to France, and I will most likely never settle back to the USA. It will feel like a second expatriation, and I will have some minor reverse culture shocks once I'm back in my home country, but I know on the long term, I will feel MUCH LESS anxious, I will feel COVERED by my RIGHTS, and also I won't be "forced" to commute by car everywhere, and I'll have quality food :). I have shifted politically back and forth after my move to the US, but as of today, I really think that "regulations" can be a good thing for the people, and the environment. Anyway, keep up the good work, brother. If I understand correctly, you hope to move out and settle in Germany (most likely)? I hope you get to accomplish your goals. I really do. Your videos speak to me, very much. Take care! I'll keep watching!

Another great video from you, Nate Lawson. Thanks for speaking up!

Malaysian. We have an act that regulates employment terms here as such: maximum 45 hours/ week (any extra hour is paid overtime rate), minimum 8 days paid annual leave, minimum 11 paid holidays, minimum 14 days paid medical leave, additional 60 days paid hospitalization leave, additional 30 days unpaid medical leave for every year in employment with the company, 90 days paid maternity for mothers, and 30 (i think) for fathers. The minimum wage is 1500/month. And all these benefits start from day 1 of employment, provided the annual and medical leave is pro-rated for the year. We do have many companies, especially in certain industries that dont follow these rules, but we can contest these companies via the workforce department. So that's a plus point.

27:07 It is not so much about class struggle; the American system could only work in a "society" of uprooted people, people from many different places who did not automatically sympathize with each other. There is no cohesion, no solidarity because most Americans are lone warriors fighting for the realization of their personal (American) dream. This extreme system (short term profit above all) would never have been implemented in a European society; there are exceptions of course. There would not be workers in the same company for 30+ years, sometimes even in the 2nd or 3rd generation, the boss and the workers are family and they know that they depend on each other and therefore workers are not treated as spare parts of a mechanism if you know what I mean..... And now Europe is experiencing the same kind of divide between the people as more and more diversity is introduced to the quite homogenous societies of Europe, staring with the UK, France, Spain and moving eastward, the eastern European countries being the most homogenous. Those arriving lately accept lower wages and wors working conditions since they are happy to earn money at all - and the story begins again....

I truly feel sorry for all the people now living in the Divided States of America. I also feel sorry for all those Europeans now living in the Divided States of America the vast mayority of them have been sold a lie. Just look at those Scandinavian country's they are ranked as the best country's to live in western European country's are also high on the list Germany is definitely on that list. If you are from are from a European country why emigrate to America? it's a downgrade maybe for love but you can always bring you're American love intrest back to Europe where it's so much better for the both of you and where the quality of life is yet again so much better America is not an upgrade. The American dream is nothing more than a nightmare WAKE UP people it's no longer the land of oppertunity and it's definitely not the land of the free far from it Europe is not perfect but it's still way better than the Divided States of America period. Second thought is an awesome channel love it great content. Other than that a great reaction/video keep up the great work Nate👍 and come back to Europe ASAP. Greetings from the Netherlands🇳🇱

I lived in Vienna, Austria, which I love. Love the German language, culture, Classical music. But I also lived in Italy, which I adore too. Love Italian language, food, culture. Now I am a Londoner. But I miss Europe. 🤓🤔🌹

There's nothing wrong with cutting costs, but not at the expense of your workers who make your business viable in the first place.

I'm UK , i work full time which is 35hr no weekends, my employers give me 28 days holiday, 8 bank holidays if I'm sick I get full pay for 6mths+6months half pay. i really hope all the people who watch these videos in the USA take note and realize they are being worked to death

I thought there might be some mention of the token payment prisoners receive for work while incarcerated. Making number plates or military helmets for a near zero wage is unfair both to the prisoners (modern day slavery if you will) and the outside businesses who can't compete.

I left the US in 1992 and have never looked back. I lived and worked for 32 years in Stockholm and I’m now retired and living in Sicily. Life is simply better in Europe.

In Germany you get 30 days paid vacation, maternity leave for fathers and mothers, and sick leave for as long as you are required by your physician. Once you come back from maternity leave, the company has to give you back the job you had. Once you come back from medical leave you get support to get you healthy again, and if you are unable to do your job you get an even larger help for you to change your carreer or you get on social security. Salaries are negotiated every year, you enrole to a worker's union which will do it in your behalf, and besides that you get your salary adjusted to inflation. Did I mention free college?

I have only heard of one case in Germany. and the boss has offered extra days of vacation and a bonus payment as well as reimbursement of all expenses and vacation days. it was a garage for classic cars.

Great reaction 👍🏻 greetings from Austria 🇦🇹

I work at a very big fortune 500 US company in Norway (I'm Norwegian) and when the pandemics came, we were told that family comes first and none of the 30.000+ employees would be terminated or lose any wages even if we were unable to work. Very non-US like mentality, so I was surprised even though us in Norway would be fine regardless because they need to follow our rules. My wife got sick during pregnancy so she didn't work at all after the first 3 weeks, fully paid and had 12 months maternity leave at 100% pay, so she didn't work for almost 2 years but had 100% pay. I had 4 months 100% paternity leave after that. We can, if we want have 3 years of unpaid maternity/paternity leave without risking our jobs, but I don't think many do that unless if you have a chronically ill child, but you get a ton of support if you do by the government, also extra paid vacation and treatment holidays both national and international. We had 5 weeks paid vacation on top of all the public holidays we get here, paid of course, I think it's about 10 days extra paid vacation depending on what day of the week they land on. If you work more than 37.5 hour week, you get paid extra (50% or 100% depending on what day or hour you work extra). I pay about 25% taxes, less than many US Americans, and make about 80K$ a year. Healthcare, education-including university, sick days (as many as you need) are included in that tax, so we don't pay anything out of pocket, except around 20$ for a normal docor appointment. Dental is unfortunately not included, so that can be a bit expensive. If you have a chronic dental issue, it's subsidised. Nobody needs to be homeless here, because the government provides living (proper houses/apartments) if you can't afford it, but we do still have some homelessness, but you don't see it and it's very few (3000 people-ish in total, but that includes people who stay at friends houses, couch surfers etc with no permanent address to their name) I'm very happy paying my taxes and I would never ever live in the US, not even visit anymore (been there many times before)

try, as a manager in Germany, sending a work related e-mail on a saturday to one of your employees. You'll find out really quickly how serious they take time-off in Germany.

When I listen to these videos I often think that the US never really abolished slavery

Thanks Nate. I totally agree and get it. We often consider relocating there to Germany. The US has priced their working class out. So many are relocating for various reasons be it healthcare, cost of living, divisive politics, policing issues, or whatever. And I know those will say love or leave......well that's what many have chosen to do. Peace!

I'm the Netherlands we don't even need a doctor's note, neither on vacation or outside of it, to prove we are ill. We just call in sick and get back to work when we can. There's a company doctor for when you're ill for 6 weeks+. We also get "vacation money" which is a regulated 8% of anyone's salary that's saved and will be paid out in May to stimulate people to book a vacation.

Hey there Nate. I found your videos a couple of weeks ago and i like them very much. I am living in belgium and i work part time as a cleaning woman at a little school. Its a dream job. I live in a nice social appartment. As a single mother i am doing pretty well but make no mistake. Also here the right tries to take over and undermine all of the social security and education. No im not living in paradice but its really good to live. I think we will see a lot of Americans coming towards Europe. No, we dont built walls, so, you are welcome. 👍👍 Greetings from Belgium. 🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪