| Supply and demand? I think there's a large variance in the US as well between different geographical areas. I would expect you can find x2 differences even within one geography. There are a lot of factors in play: - In SV there's a lot of "easy" money and a shortage of people. - There's a lot of friction preventing this from equalizing. Immigration policies being one example. - There have been significant currency movements over the last couple of years and those take some time to reflect back to things like prices and salaries. The strength of the US dollar means that at least temporarily you make that much more if you work in the US. - Cost of living. If you have to pay more to own a house, pay for your kids education, commute, health, etc. then you can expect upwards pressure on salaries to make up for that. - Risk premiums. I think it's important to realize that these things can take a while to play out. When I look at today's salaries compared to 10 or 20 years ago I don't actually think they're very high but that's against a backdrop of erosion in other middle class salaries. Time will tell. |