Yes, I agree with you that the Spanish housing bubble was (and still is) insane. I don't have current numbers, but in this website you can check the number of houses started in Spain and compare them with other countries: http://www.casastristes.org/files/viviendaNuevaEuropa/vivien... (link in spanish, but numbers are universal). Since 1999 building more houses than France and Italy together; while in other countries there is a lot of investment in technology, in Spain they invest on houses.

I was not talking about myself. I worked in Barcelona for a while and moved to the US on 2009. Usually engineers don't have a 8-6 working schedule; in the company where I worked it was more normal a 8AM-9PM. 1h for lunch. And during deadlines it was "normal" to stay until 1-2AM. And back at 8, of course. All that for 15K. Sounds great, doesn't it? I left the job after 6 months because I considered that it was not a "good deal". It is true that I could be close to 30K in 1-2 years but...

I can't talk for all american engineers, but people that I know are close to the 100-120K without working 50+ hours. The difference on holidays is one of the biggest differences, that's true. And social benefits. As for your last comment, foreign engineers should definitely consider that!! Spain universities are pretty good (our engineering undergrads were 5 years until the current Bologna system) and engineering programs are considered really tough.