I don't think it's a "gratitude to be employed". It's a cultural thing.

I think that is some sort of weird Victorian British upstairs-downstairs attitude - "You, serf, should be greatful to me, because you have a job". Being in "service" doesn't equate to being "servile", yet time and time again service jobs feel like they carry a taint of being "menial", at least in the UK.

It's more that the countries you list tend to have an altogether different culture when it comes to service, where people actually take pride in their work and a job well done, where working in service is considered a career rather than just a job.

Cheers,
Mike