luxoJr, but you have to know that we have to pay about 1/4 of that as tax... plus the cost of living (rent, food, transportation, etc..) is much higher in the US
One thing that you may interested is the inital fee to join sush a union(And you are forced to join). In south california you might need to pay about 2 weeks of salary to join, which could be like $3000 or $4000 US dollars. But you will received health and other benefit by paying this money.