[NonEUCitizen]

Who do you think earns more: An actress, or the actress' manager? A basketball player, or the basketball player's coach? A boxer, or the boxer's manager?

Is it easier for the consultant to leave for another company and get a new manager, or for you to hire another person at his/her level to be your "subordinate"?

Market forces are at play here -- the productive members of society rightfully make more than people who go to meetings.

[greenyoda]

An actor's or boxer's manager is not their boss - they're essentially a contract negotiating agent who is hired by the actor or boxer. So comparing this job to the job of a supervisor of a group of professional workers isn't really valid.

Also, from my experience as both a developer and a manager of developers, there are many fewer people who have the skills to effectively manage a group of developers than there are developers (and they're usually already senior developers before they become managers). Thus, I'd expect that good managers would be harder to find and would thus deserve a market premium in their salaries. Also, when I was a manager, I had a more stressful job (being responsible for the work of many people) and worked longer hours than when I was a developer.

When I became a manager, I had the same experience: I found out that a couple of my reports had higher salaries than I did. I asked for, and received (without argument) a big raise.