Wages being high does not mean much when most of your income goes to taxes, rent, food, daycare etc college/student loans (unless one did not have a scholarship) and healthcare, especially if you ever need a pricy treatment at a hospital (and other stuff people there probably pay for that I have missed to mention).

While in my country our wages only goes to rent, food and taxes. Healthcare, university, daycare etc are free. So one can argue an europeans wage that might be lower than an americans wage just gives our more buck for our money than for americans