The time needed to get $1 in international dollars is 63 minutes in the US. This is about twice the average in Germany, France and the UK according to an Oxford University researcher. This suggests that average poverty is significantly higher in the US.
In Germany minimum wage for a 20h/week waitress job would be 940€/month + tips after taxes. The boyfriend would get unemployment benefits of 500€/month. The main issue here is cheap housing, but especially in east Germany and more rural parts of the country, you can still find flats for 500€/month. It is obviously living on the cheap, but entirely possible.
Idk how it is in Germany, but here in Italy you have to have held a job that fired you for, let’s say, non-disciplinary reasons, you must not have resigned yourself, and you have to subscribe to unemployment lists, which means an agency will have the task of finding you a suitable (shitty) job which you can’t refuse or you’ll lose your benefits.
Nice to know that some places are still living the american dream.
That’s amazing!