[josebama]

A consequence of that is that local companies, that have local economy level income, can't compete on salary with those foreign companies. So they can't get the top-tier workforce they used to have access to. Ever increasing the economic disparity between countries.

They allow brain drain to happen, without the barriers of having to move countries.

[pzduniak]

I'm pretty sure someone making 2-4x their local salary for a remote company and paying taxes is healthier for the economy than working your ass off (or not) for a local startup that wants to end up getting acquired OR doing the same remote work with 2-3 layers of management extracting the difference in pay. At least in Poland I can't think of any single company I'd want to work for.

[zokier]

There is also the factor of the country receiving hard foreign currency, which I understand is generally quite desireable. This is less relevant for EU vs US compensation, but for more developing ("3rd world") nations could be significant.

[angra_mainyu]

This. I did the same while living in Eastern Europe + working remote for a US startup.

The amount of money I poured into the local economy is probably an order of magnitude higher (maybe even 2) than if I had worked for a local company.

[mitthrowaway2]

If they don't have to move countries, it's not really brain drain at all. It's exactly the opposite in fact.

If they did have to move, then they would, and you'd have brain drain. But because they can remain in their communities (while earning the globally-competitive income that they would otherwise have to move for), they now pay taxes to their local government, buy from local businesses, mentor local youth, and so on. When they've earned enough money from their job, they may quit and start a startup in their own community, or become an angel investor supporting startups in their area, rather than yet another bay-area based fund. These are all good things!

[hiAndrewQuinn]

You might be right, if we assume that everyone who takes these high paying remote jobs also makes sure to never ever spend the money they earn locally, either.

However, if I was earning an order of magnitude more money than I currently am, I might want to pay a little extra to go to the really good barber, or to eat at the really nice restaurant at the riverbank. Or, hell, I might just employ a cleaning service every week, to save myself a few hours' time vacuuming my apartment. These necessarily local services will also see their revenues rise. To me that seems to be a more important effect on the local economy at large.

[bobby_table]

But how would you feel about working as a barber, chef or cleaner, when you could earn two orders of magnitude more making Internet thingamajings for people on the other side of the world?

[pavlov]

New York never has a critical shortage of barbers, chefs or cleaners even though for many decades it’s been possible to earn 100x as a Wall Street bond trader or quant.

A healthy growth economy can tolerate income differences. But the balance is certainly precarious, as the example of New York or London shows. It’s constantly on the edge of driving out the remaining barbers and chefs because they can’t afford rents.

[__float]

They could build more apartments.

[mordae]

But the money stay in the country and increase the chance that the employee eventually starts their own business, possibly using the cheaper workforce as an advantage.