The average european has a good life, but the average person doesn’t exist outside of statistics.
I used to work 84h weeks as a European, overtime is taxed at a higher rate so the take home is lower than a regular working hour. But if you really want something out of life (like buying a house) you have to sacrifice everything if you’re just a normal worker.
Hell i sacrificed it all only to lose it to economic troubles and later again due to covid.
I’m not doing that again even though all my employers try to get me to work overtime, some even fired me for refusing to work overtime past the contractual 3h per week.
I somehow ended up making a decent wage at my current job, but i dislike the job so badly it’s not even funny anymore.
Ah yes, “it’s not taxed higher, just differently which means it’s higher”. Makes sense.