[Kevin26329]

I have a perspective that may be of interest since I am an American who has worked in Finland the past couple of years. I’m a professional and was recruited to work here, although I had some personal reasons for wanting to come here. I’ve also lived in other European countries (six years in Europe), but I’ve spent most of my working life in the United States so I have a fairly good understanding of how people live in the two countries.

It’s true that in Finland people have regular eight-hour work days, and that all people get a standard five weeks of vacation a year. The government does provide social assistance (what we call welfare) if you’re unemployed. This is also the case in other Scandinavian and many western European countries. The positive side is that there are very few downright poor people and there is relatively little crime, which can probably be attributed in large part to their social system. The down side is that tax rates are very high in order to support such a system (I’m paying around fifty percent). At least in Finland, the level of social assistance is sufficient to cover necessities such as housing, clothes and food, but little else.

I have managed to make a number of friends, and some are working and some get social assistance. The average salary, by U.S. standards, is relatively low, and there’s not a large gap between those who work and those who get assistance, so there is not a tremendous incentive to get a job if you’re unemployed. Also, the average level of savings is surprisingly low; after paying bills, most people have little left over. The philosophy here is to have a society in which people are not too poor and not too rich (the more you earn, the more you’re taxed). The system works in Finland but probably wouldn’t work in the United States, primarily because Americans have historically been reluctant to pay the higher taxes that would be necessary, and the because of the differences between the workings of the economies, e.g. with regard to regulatory aspects affecting businesses and the hiring and firing workers.

I don’t want to sound too negative because Finland is a nice country that is very orderly, clean and fairly well run. However, the opportunities are a bit too limiting for my tastes, so I’ll probably return home sometime in the future. The consensus that people in the United States work more and have less leisure time is correct, but the rewards are often greater.

User Detail :  

Name : Kevin26329, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Age : 38, City : Helsinki, State : NA, Country : Finland, Occupation : Consultant, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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