Maybe that is what he means.
Yes, of course; I think we agree on that. I'm just pointing out that the similar statistic for the US need not be MUCH lower.
(I also didn't count disability insurance, healthcare, union dues or life insurance.)
(Let's see. I actually found an old paycheck stub. What I'd count as "take home pay" was about 57% of "gross salary." Quite a bit better than 33%, but not good.)
This does not include "overhead expenses" of an employee to the employer (office space, whatever the company contributes to voluntary healthcare, computer(s), training, etc.) These are quite substantial as well, especially for real employees ("consultants" are much cheaper for some reason, or perhaps just come off the books differently.)