> an unfirable European

This is not true - most American companies hire contractors, usually through a local intermediary.

> with a statutory month off every year.

This is something work pondering about, really. Take step back, look at your life, and think a bit about this point, no matter if you're blue- or white-collar worker.

> This is not true - most American companies hire contractors, usually through a local intermediary.

Do you have a source for this? I would expect EU rules around classifying contractors to be much stricter than what we have in the US.

> This is something work pondering about, really. Take step back, look at your life, and think a bit about this point, no matter if you're blue- or white-collar worker.

Yes, I have taken a look at my life and thought about this point.

I enjoy work. I enjoy building things that are useful to society and I enjoy getting paid a lot of money to do it.

I'm not even gonna pretend that I don't take long vacations. Lots of places I've worked have had unlimited PTO, despite no legal requirement for it.

But the smaller and earlier-stage places I've worked? No, people didn't take vacations there. The company could not afford it, and when employees are shareholders they generally love maximizing shareholder value.