I have a friend who lives in Paris as a hotel worker. He was able to take two weeks off to visit his girlfriend in NYC and enjoy his time here. It wasn’t a huge event he had to save up for.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe there is no universe where an American worker could do the reverse (fly to Paris for two weeks to enjoy themselves, without needing to plan it for years).
The point is, the basement standard of life in France is not close to the basement standards of the US.
The issue is your friend might have 45 days of vacations but perhaps not enough funds to spend in vacation. In France high skill jobs pay 35k. Also, your friend is one of those lucky ones having a job: these nice policies typically come at a cost to others, in this case a high unemployment rate and a dual job market protecting those in the system.
These are well known features of a rigid unionized labor laws.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe there is no universe where an American worker could do the reverse (fly to Paris for two weeks to enjoy themselves, without needing to plan it for years).
The point is, the basement standard of life in France is not close to the basement standards of the US.