My curiosity was piqued, so I looked up some numbers on Norway. $45 an hour really isn't a typical wage, though it takes some reading between the lines to figure it out since the people putting the sites together don't seem to understand the differences between wages, salaries, and average income for both. Even the jobs that would be minimum wage in the US, like chambermaid, have 24% taken off the top in mandatory deductions, which goes up rapidly as the income level rises, a lot more rapidly than in the US system. Norway does have the second-highest pay in Europe, but as noted the cost of living there is ridiculous.
