I clicked on the link about Sarkozy asking for a pay raise. The article said the average salary in France is 13,000 euros (a little under 17,000 USD), which in my mind, means there are lots of people living with an income way less than that. According to Wikipedia, the overall rate of social security and tax in France is 71.3% of gross salary of the average wage (in 2005). That can't be correct?! Is 13,000 the average salary before or after taxes? How do the French pay for housing, utilites, etc.? Or is all that "provided" by the government? Sorry to be going on and on about this, but this was a big shock to me.
I clicked on the link about Sarkozy asking for a pay raise. The article said the average salary in France is 13,000 euros (a little under 17,000 USD), which in my mind, means there are lots of people living with an income way less than that. According to Wikipedia, the overall rate of social security and tax in France is 71.3% of gross salary of the average wage (in 2005). That can't be correct?! Is 13,000 the average salary before or after taxes? How do the French pay for housing, utilites, etc.? Or is all that "provided" by the government? Sorry to be going on and on about this, but this was a big shock to me.