Oh absolutely, but what I have noticed as well is that companies in lower wage countries have started charging more as well as there's now more demand for outsourced workers.
To be more specific: for example, (non-FAANG) senior dev salaries in Poland are pretty much in line with senior dev salaries in France.
Before the covid, typical senior dev net salary in Poland was around ~12-18k PLN per month, while in France it's about 3k EUR per month (a bit higher in Paris, but also more expensive).
One diff is that IT folks in PL typically work on b2b contracts; the upside is lower tax, and tax deductions on car leasing (hence it's easy to get new and very nice car). Downside: minimal state pension (no one in PL believes in state pensions money being managed well).
You're comparing salaries with consulting rates, there are bigger differences than pension contributions. Salaries are low in France in big part because of all the advantages that come with it - near total job security, maternity/paternity rights, sick pay etc
35 hours work week doesn't exist for engineers in France. We are "Cadre forfait jours" which mean we are paid by days, not by hours. Typically an engineer works from 9am to 6pm. A 45 hour work week.
Those RTT, 15 additional days off really put the squeeze on hourly productivity. The French workforce that I knew, seems to have fiercely changed since then.
According to levels.fyi, the median salary in Google Munich is 147k USD [1] whereas the median for Warsaw is 82k USD [2]. Central Europe salaries are still quite a bit lower, even if you can be creative with taxes. Those B2B contracts are not quite as prevalent as one might think - larger corporations typically don't use them. And, from my experience, you can get to an even better take home pay with a little bit of time and career progression.
Before the covid, typical senior dev net salary in Poland was around ~12-18k PLN per month, while in France it's about 3k EUR per month (a bit higher in Paris, but also more expensive).
One diff is that IT folks in PL typically work on b2b contracts; the upside is lower tax, and tax deductions on car leasing (hence it's easy to get new and very nice car). Downside: minimal state pension (no one in PL believes in state pensions money being managed well).