Is that really a reason for skyrocketing pay though? Struggling to come up with any instances where this actually happened and such "hazard pay" was "justified."
It's an excuse but not a good reason. The reason is more that people on top of the income/wealth divide have the power to give themselves more power and keep growing the divide, and they're unafraid of the risks that come with the reward. Populist uprisings are a thing of the past in the info age. The little people are sufficiently surveiled and controlled by the network, by partisan propaganda that keeps them infighting, etc.