I have lived both in US and Canada, I can tell from my personal experience that US is way better for a working class skilled immigrant. I dont know about Europe or other countries no cant comment on that.
US provides way more economic opportunity. When you compare similar jobs, I was making way more income from my job in US than in Canada. Also you keep more of your income to you rather than paying high taxes. You cant buy a decent house to live in any decent sized city in Canada with decent income. Infact, half the Canadian population will never be able to own a house with current income levels unless they get money from outside like many immigrants are doing. Canadian young people have normalized living in small, run down apartments. It shouldn't have to be like that in a rich developed country. It is failure of the political class who are allowing more and more foreign money and foreign labor to come into Canadian economy without increasing much productivity in the economy. Lot of low skilled and family class immigrants, or even inborn Canadians that I meet in Canada are working very minimum, low paying jobs and just letting their houses pay for their living. Most will live in 1 to 1.5million dollar houses but still collect childcare dollars for their kids as they work very little. Whereas, a hard working new Canadian or immigrants would work their butt off, and if they make 120k and up, they would be paying way high taxes, no benefits and would be buying a run down bad house due to no fault of their own.
From the surface you would feel you are getting free healthcare out of your high taxes but its a farce. Nothing is free. You pay high taxes and even then you dont get good healthcare. I have experienced first hand. Doctors dont care about your wait time, clinics dont care if you are getting good services and are taken care adequately as they are getting paid from province no matter what. They have no incentives to give good services. Just google some doctors offices around your area and look at the reviews people put. You will have hard time finding a 4 star office let alone 5.
Doctors are still providing decades old treatment modalities and options as those are the only ones approved and paid by the provinces. They are not trying newer advanced treatment option like newer implants, newer stents as they are expensive and provinces dont pay for it. Doctors just try to make you go away unless you are dying. They are happy treating and writing usual diabetes and high BP meds to patient. They rarely go out of their way to do more investigations and be proactive, as there is no incentive to make more diagnosis and more production for the office, and help someone in the meantime. Even illegal immigrants in US get healthcare through medicaid and no hospital can deny live saving healthcare in US to anyone regardless if they have insurance or if they are able to pay. Healthcare in US is no doubt expensive for regular low income working families but they try to get insurance, no family want to move to Canada or Europe for free healthcare reason. It leads to personal responsibility rather than depending upon someone live government for your needs. And believe me, healthcare in Canada is also expensive, you pay with your taxes and cost of living.
Also 9% of Canadian population is living outside Canada, thats a huge number. And I dont have exact data but I feel about 50% of people over 65 stay 6 months out of Canada in Florida (for whites) and India or other countries during winters, while keep drawing government benefits and healthcare. Now does that help Canada in any way economically or socially, you can tell.
Someone compare Toronto to New York. While its not accurate, TO is more comparable to Chicago in terms of population and economic activity. Compare the housing prices and average income in Chicago and TO, you can clearly see its much easier for someone to get a decent house, have a decent life in Chicago with median income. Good luck doing that in TO.
This is a subjective observation but I found that in reality, US system overall is much more friendly for immigrants both low and high skilled, if you ignore the political rhetoric. For sure its messy for someone like me who was born in India or for someone from China.
They take in lot of immigrants both legal and illegal, and even illegals can work, get drivers license, go to school and get lot more services. Ask an illegal immigrant in Canada, they cant even open a bank account. In all fairness, Canada does make it easier for skilled educated immigrants to come in, its in no way friendly to overall immigrants. Infact it hates letting old age parents of immigrants coming here and put all sorts of roadblocks. Lot of skilled and family class immigrants who come to Canada are doing the same jobs and work which the undocumented do in US, atleast they live in warmer climate.
Minimum wage is higher in Canada no doubt but look at that the cost of living. Also why are we discussion minimum wage when we discussing skilled economic immigration.
All these are personal observation. I have lived in both countries, studied in both countries, worked both minimum wage jobs and highest tax bracket jobs in both countries. Your experiences might be different but you cant ignore the fact that most immigrants want to work, be able to have a house, live comfortably and provide for their family. This is way easier to achieve in US.