Summary
Elon Musk faced backlash from his followers on X after advocating for importing “super talented engineers” to address a shortage in the U.S. tech industry.
Musk likened hiring top foreign talent to building a championship sports team and argues that there is a shortage of talented and motivated American engineers.
Critics argued there’s sufficient U.S. talent being overlooked or underpaid, with some pointing to widespread tech layoffs.
Musk dismissed claims of low wages or training gaps, maintaining a need for exceptional engineering talent to advance innovation.
Average European labour costs tend to match the average US costs because of taxes and government services paid for from taxes being different.
On the one hand, I barely get six figures in EUR as a mid-senior engineer. On the other, my rent is capped at below 20% of my take home for a large penthouse, my insurance is 140 EUR and valid everywhere across Europe, no extra costs, dental included. If I get fired, I get years of unemployment. Years.
From someone with a background in pharma, I have seen many specialist level employees making more than manager level french bosses to the point where they actively manage you out to save money.
I’ve never seen any of my french colleagues telling me how cheap their housing costs are and how nice their commute is on their commute into paris.
Don’t get me wrong, QOL is better and i’m for effectively everything most european countries are pushing for public policy wise (excepting the recent right wing nutty stuff going on.) I have never seen americans making less total comp than europeans for the same role within the same company. I haven’t just worked in pharma either.
We have pharma sales reps making 150k-250k base + commission pay with nothing more than a generic bachelor’s degree. Then they also get a company car, 15k/year insurance, 30 days PTO. No job security though, but that same job security you have is like a great wall of employment where everyone fights for contract roles in the hopes they get converted to internal, right? That’s how it goes in France from what my colleagues have said.