[notahacker]

If we're talking about construction work in South-East Asia, the same basic principles apply. Limited demand because there really aren't that many foreigners relative to locals (and some of the foreigners don't have more money than the local middle class anyway), and satisfying the foreigners' more exacting standards, weird ideas about construction and insistence on exotic materials needs more skill than most local construction workers possess, and competent English. That means most people in construction are only going to get to work for a wealthy Westerner through a middleman, and that middleman is going to pay them the standard local rates.