[bzbarsky]

Of course it comes out of your compensation in the end. It just doesn't come out of the "headline" compensation number you see.

Which is fine if you're comparing equivalent "headline" numbers. But for other purposes the ratio of take-home pay to what the employer has to pay out (so including all the employer-side taxes) might be more relevant in terms of determining your likelihood of receiving a certain level of take-home pay.

[acchow]

We're comparing headline numbers, not economic cost. There are so many other economic costs to hiring someone that it would be almost impossible to compare. The most blaring one of course is healthcare cost. In the US, the employer bears this cost which is enormous (as healthcare is astronomically expensive in the US) and by your argument this would reduce "your likelihood of receiving a certain level of take-home pay"

And yet incomes are much higher in the US than in Germany.

I think headline numbers are the only useful thing to compare here.