It can be misleading, even illusory, to cite an average statistic on the entire E.U. and U.S. when their respective member-states differ significantly in their own averages. To be sure, overall averages, such as pertain to an empire-scale union of states covering many subunits are useful in comparison with the overall average of another comparable union. Additionally, in cases in which the state averages do not differ much, the overall average for all of the states aggregated is not misleading. Abstractly, an average of numbers that ranges from 50 to 50,000 is less reflective of the facts on the ground than is an average of numbers that ranges from 50 to 60 because neither of these outliers is much different than, say, an average of 55. In contrast, especially if most of the data from 50 to 50,000 clusters around these poles, then to say that an average of 23,000 represents something actual is dubious and even misleading. It is also misleading to compare the average pertaining to one empire-scale union of states with the average of a state in another such union. Such a category mistake regarding scale and polity-types and levels is commonly made in comparing and contrasting the E.U. and U.S. In an effort to rectify the recurrent cognitive-ideological lapses bearing on trans-Atlantic comparisons and contrasts, a proper comparison of salary averages can serve as an illustration of how to compare “apples with apples, and oranges with oranges” in institutional political analysis that is comparative in application.
As for the E.U., Eurostat
reported that in 2023, “the average annual full-time adjusted salary per
employee ranged from €13,503 [$14,853] in Bulgaria to €81,064 [$89,170] in Luxembourg, with
the EU average standing at €37,863 [$41,649].”[1] I
submit that the difference of the state averages from high to low justifies
using the state averages rather than citing the E.U. average except for
comparing the E.U. to other empire-scale polities, such as the U.S., India, and
China. As for the U.S., the average annual salary per employee ranged from
$45,180 (€41,073) in Mississippi to $76,600 (€69,636) in Massachusetts,
with the US average standing at was $59,384 (€53,986). Again,
the difference of the state averages from high to low justifies using the state
averages, except in comparing the U.S. as a whole to the E.U. as a whole. The
U.S.’s $59,384 (€53,986) average is higher than the E.U.’s €37,863 ($41,649).
To be sure, comparing union-to-union has its drawbacks, for the overall conclusion
that salaries were on average higher in the U.S. than in the E.U. in 2023 masks
the fact that Luxembourg’s average of €81,064 [$89,170] is higher than the
average of $76,600 (€69,636) in Massachusetts.
I submit that the intellectual beauty
in this sterling symmetry is essentially that of logic absent any distortive
ideology that would push someone into comparing the average of a state in one
union with another union overall. As an example of an illogical category
mistake, making a list of averages on salaries per worker by listing Luxembourg
as number 1 and the U.S. as #6 after Austria would omit the averages of U.S.
states such as New York, California, and New Jersey whose 2023 averages are higher
than those of Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, and Austria. If member-states are to
be included, the states from both the E.U. and U.S. must be included to
avoid a misleading and distortive category mistake. Similarly, if the U.S.
average is included, so too must be that of the E.U., whether or not the state
averages are included.
Having demonstrated how the common category mistakes regarding trans-Atlantic political and economic comparisons can be rectified logically, I am under no illusion that such pristine logic will gain any traction, given the sheer intractability of the Euroskeptic, or state’s rights, ideology in Europe even into the 2020s in spite of state-nationalism having spawned two long wars that went global in the preceding century. In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn masterfully explains why scientific revolutions as paradigm changes are typically resisted so much by scientists who are entrenched in the paradigm enjoying the inertia of the status quo. Both personal interests and emotional as well as intellectual investment in an existing paradigm play a role in elongating the existing paradigm’s life-span artificially. So too, clutching onto political and economic comparisons between a state in one empire-scale union of states and another such union had become more ideological than based in fact by 2024, with denial of logic being just one of the implicit casualties. Old Kant must be rolling in his grave.
1. Servet
Yanatma, “Average
Salary Rankings in Europe: Which Countries Pay the Highest,” Euronews.com,
December 24, 2024. I added the dollar equivalents using the December 30, 2023 euro/dollar
exchange rate of 1.1. The highest rate in 2023 was 1.12 and the lowest was
1.05.
