Yes, I do agree with some of that. People in this latitude don't want "private" anything because of the reasons mentioned before. It all boils down to a bad company culture, hiring is not merit-based, companies don't compete in the classical sense. And on Portugal, taken in context, salaries have been even lower in Portugal, but they are improving, and there are many more high-tech jobs going around in Portugal. It might not be a major difference from where you are looking, but they do tend to take their "world of work" more seriously.