Working in Germany for 6 Months | Better than USA?

There is a German video about a female team warehouse manager (she is 19 years old, the company with the big A) and she earns around 3000 EUR net with night shift (paid extra) and co. Anyone fresh out of university and starting somewhere does NOT have this money... not at the beginning.

There are also many Germans who have abandoned their university studies and still earn quite good money. In the end, you also have to be in the right place at the right time and be able to estimate it.

But you shouldn't sell yourself short for too long. The world is evolving and they will also throw it in your face here: why did you work in the warehouse for five or 10 years even though you have a high-quality degree...

Misinformation!
The employer pays full wages for a maximum of 6 weeks for the illness.
The health insurance company pays a maximum of 78 weeks in 3 years.
Then you have to ask about unemployment insurance, which pays for 6 to 12 months.
After that, only social assistance or pension insurance comes into question.
None of the funds pay out the full salary, only 70 to 40%.

with 12.50 u live in a Tent in Munich 🤣🤣🤣

Finding a well-paid job without speaking German probably depends a lot on where you're located, and your area of expertise. It's probably somewhat easier in larger cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Düsseldorf etc. b/c of the higher numbers of corporations per se and a higher density of those doing business internationally (and thus requiring Engl. language staff). I worked at a large logistics company in Hamburg as an editor for internal communications - the job was entirely in English. So, these jobs are out there. You could ask the Arbeitsagentur of your city if they have a list of companies in your region who may be looking for new staff with your skill set, and / or if there are German language classes they would sponsor or co-sponsor. You never know. Anyway, glad you've adopted a positive mindset and are appreciative of the benefits you do have; I mean hey: you've successfully moved and are working legally, with residential and work visas, etc. ! If you were someone from a Latin American, African or Asian country, migrating to Germany would've likely been waaay more complicated, if at all possible. (Unless someone's an ace IT cat, super engineer or academic, etc.). So: enjoy! A better paid job will come.

a bit its much less and someone here said median in germany is higher its the opposite its 30-40k in germany and 54k in the US

Just calculate how expensive a US healthcare Insurance would be, that gives You the same coverage, the general cost of living is lower, paid holidays etc.
The quality of life is priceless

Ganz ehrlich geh zurück nach Amerika wir brauchen keine Amerikaner.

In Germany wages are more equally distributed. Low wage jobs are typically paid better than in the US, but high wage jobs (like Engineering) are paid comparably low. A Senior Engineer will earn in Germany about 80k €, while in the US it will typically be in the six figure range (from what ive heard).

PS: If you really are after the high pay you can try to find a job in Switzerland. GDP per capita is higher than in the US and there are also some tech companies in Zürich. Though cost of living in Switzerland is also the highest in the world.

Yes, he's a dumb individual. If he was a high tech individual in america. He would got 30 days at the start. Health care at around $28.00us per month.
I got a company car, 30 days vacation a year. Sick days were also 30 days. Oh, I also got a company credit card to buy meals.
I got that's a differents between a stupid individual and a good educate worker in america.

no! Germany is a farytale land. We have more castles here than you have mc donalds fast food restaurants. And our farytale castles are so great that americans rather use a german castle for disnesland as trying to come up with a fake one. Which proves, we can "build" better castles than americans can "imagine" them. If thats not a farytale land, than just go home

Only 3 Weeks of vacation is illegal. Minimum by law are 4 Weeks (24 Werktage)

And don't forget that you are extremely unlikely to get gunned down going about your day in Germany

You get 100% of your net wages from your employer for the first 6 weeks of illness. After that you get 78 weeks of sick pay from the health insurance. That is 70% of the gross wage.
From the 7th week, if you are unable to work for a longer period of time, your employer can dismiss you. However, you will continue to receive your sick pay, as the insurance coverage is independent of the employer. The employer's share of the health insurance is then paid by the employment agency. This does not apply to accidents at work. Here you have complete protection against dismissal for the entire time and also receive 100% from the health insurance.
In addition, you have 5 paid Uelaubswochen + public holidays.

We (the Germans) need any ammount of skilled workers we can get (and lots of unskilled also). For a lot of companys it is perfectly fine if your only language is american english.

You poor americans, you call it benefits, they aren't. They are considered rights here, workers rights, none of this is the choice of your boss. It is simply the law. You might want to change your way adressing it. 😃
The heat thing is work safety regulation, the employer is not allowed to put his workers health at risk. Hell, as a worker you are not even allowed to put your health willingly at risk and your employer will make sure you do not. Otherwise he might end up getting into legal trouble, even if he had a written and signed statement that you were willing to accept that risk.
Welcome to being treated as a human being. Must be nice for a change.

I work a mini-job (45 hours a month) and get 4 weeks paid. Maybe you began late in the year?

With your qualification I would definitively look for a better job. The IT needs those people. Even for a very simple IT-related job you get more paid. But maybe you have to work in a slightly warmer office in the summer. AC is not overall available.

When you want to compare your wage to American pay you also have to consider that your employer is paying an additional 20 % directly into your accounts at the social funds, so 12.50 € is actually 15 € to be compared to the American wage. Of these 15 € 18,6 % that is 2.79 € are paid into the pension fund. If you stay less than 5 years in Germany or leave the country before you retire in Germany you may be entitled to a small pension to be paid by the German pension fund or will get the money back that you have paid in. Check directly with the pension fund (Rentenversicherung) because the rules for this are really complicated. And find a job which will pay better...

If you think yourself dumb, why don't you work in marketing? It's much more relaxing and you get paid more.

get a new job - that is minimum wage and less holidays than required by law.

What about taxes?

I have 30+5 free days. And this year I was ill for 8 weeks. And my free days are not affected by this. Illness is illness and free days are free days.

In Germany we still expect formal qualifications.

honestly I know Germans will get offended for me saying this and deny it but in my opinion Germany is communism in disguise. Of course its not nearly as bad as like soviet Russia was or similar but my point still stands. And yes I lived here long enough to confidently say that.

Only 20 paid vacation days?! This is just the legal minimum requirement - as a rule, you can get at least 30 days even in retail (Alid, Lidl & Co.)

You have 6 weeks!

What you are repeatedly calling 'benefits' which come with your job|(eg paid holidays, health care, sick pay etc), those of us fortunate enough to have born in Western Europe call them 'the most basic of worker's rights'.

12.50€/h is the German minimum wage! So no, that’s not a typical German income.
Check out that all your (native countries') education licenses/certificates/degrees are getting acknowledged in Germany and if not, what to do to change that. 
That way you won’t have to start from scratch.

or in other words: average work hours per year US 1791h vs Germany 1349h ... yep, thats allmost 450h more work per year in the US ... take a look at oecd statistics, they got plenty more numbers who will make it clear for the working class that the US is among the worst developed nations to live in.
As for the pay, those large numbers in the US disappear faster then you can say 'cost of living' ... especially groceries prices in the US exploded in comparison to Germany (before and after the most recent inflation rise)

What you call benefits, we call rights!

I Would rather work in Germany 🇩🇪 Any day. The three week 21 day vacation is Macht nights give or take a day. In Germany all employees seem to be treated equally by means of their job ethics and/or performance. Alone by having health care makes the employment all the more worth working in Germany.

Germany !! hands down!!! 😎😎😎

in a 5 day week you should have at minimum 20 days paid holiday by law but usually you have more. Arround 30 days are pretty common. if you work for good company with a strong union behind you can have even more.

The sick days are not completely unlimited - they are only unlimited if you have different, shorter illnesses. If you are unable to work because of the same reason or are hospitalized for more than six weeks your employer will stop paying you - but then the health insurance takes over and pays at least 70% of the gross income you earned before getting sick (-> "Krankengeld").

3 weeks annual paid leave? The legal minimum is 4 weeks. For your 4-day working week it's then 4x4. Combine that with legal (national/Bundesland) holidays (10/11), that adds up to 6 1/2 weeks.

For all the experts... Google is ur friend. "Der gesetzliche Jahresurlaubsanspruch liegt bei einer 6-Tage-Woche bei mindestens 24 Urlaubstagen. Beschäftigte, die ihrer Tätigkeit an fünf Tagen in der Woche nachgehen, müssen mindestens 20 Tage Urlaub im Jahr haben." if u work 5 days per Week its 20 minumim. If u work 6 Days per week its 24 days minimum.

I'm from germany, and I know that I don't want to work in amerika, where work is like slavery.

I think the critical part about Germany is that you can not work in good jobs without a skill certificate. Basically all work, plumbers, mechanics, or any other job you need to have a 3-year training and examination to show you know the theory and have the practical skill to do the job. Otherwise, you will end up in unqualified jobs that will bring no big improvement over time.

But the basic benefits like health care (and here its all free of charge,. no copay... ok 5 bucks per prescription and 10 bucks for the first 28 days in a hospital but that is all,... no other cost)

Correction it is 24 vacation days so about 5 weeks. That is the minimum. § 3 BurlG besteht ein Anspruch von 24 Werktage

Depending on your educating level you could consider to go for a "Lehre" which is a kind of traineeship for 2-3 years. It contains practical and theoretical training with a degree.
Depending to where you are located you could try to get a job at a more international company like Siemens or Bosch. I work for bosch and it is quite common to communicate in english.

The vacation days are working days, not weekdays ^^. So divide the sum by 5. I guess you have 4 weeks rather than 3, don't you?

Try the company Infosys. They operate world-wide, so the language there is basically English. Many jobs only in HO. Give it a try. Oh and it is IT...

You repeatedly mentioned that jobs in Germany generally pay less ... but then you are working (literally) minimum wage. Just as a reminder: minimum wage in the US starts at 7.25 ... with the purchasing power of Dollar vs. Euro being basically on par, and not counting the other benefits you mention factored in.
And speaking of the high end: honestly i don't think I would earn as much in my job in the US as I do here, either. At my daily rate of, my 30 days of yearly vacation alone skew the calculation so much that I barely need to think about housing cost, health care, working hours, job security, etc. to depreciate the potential US pay for a comparable job to a level where it's just not worth it.

Im german. I have 30 days of paid vacation. And earn mu h more than 12,50. Buts still not enough...

The difference between Germany and America is also that there are a lot of laws for work.
Best example you get fired in Amerika then you can go home instantly. And in Germany (when it isn't in the Probezeit) you can work there longer. It depends on how long you're working in this company you can't quit the job instantly when you get fired...very common is to work 3 more month until it is "allowed" to stay at home when you get fired...
Joar ne, kein Plan, auf deutsch kann man das irgendwie besser ausdrücken... 🤷

For a US citizen it's always smart to get all check uos and treatments done while working in germany. In that way you can multiply your profit to five figures 😉

These are not "benefits" they are rights.
The same in the rest if the E.U.
Luxembourg minimum pay is $15/hour.
25 days paid holiday, plus public holidays. Universal healthcare. Unlimited paid sick days. Free public transport. Free education. Family allowance for children, up to age of 26, if in further education.