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Supply and demand, yes, and when jobs are tied to locations the demand is concentrated. So supply needs to move to where the demand is, or face a lack of demand and lower prices. If the demand is willing to disregard geography, their supply will be that much greater. With fully-remote working, the demand isn't as concentrated, so supply need not be as concentrated either. As someone not currently living in the Bay Area, or London, or another tech hub, I'm quite happy not to be paying the cost of living there. And honestly I don't think it's fair that people who live there should be better compensated just because they decide to live somewhere expensive. But I understand why it happens, because when companies hire specifically in a tech hub there are lots of people willing to work with them but only if their pay is higher. It's a vicious circle for employers, a virtuous circle for employees, and only sustainable for as long as productivity remains above cost. It's not built on a stable economic foundation. I don't want to accept lower pay for the same job, which may mean that I don't work for those companies. That's the market at work :). On the other hand, if a company wants to employ folk to be physically present in London, they're not going to want to employ me. While if a company is willing to pay the same to everyone, they'll get fewer people in London and more people outside London, and they might even be the same people just dropping their commute :). There's enough global demand for Software Engineering to drag everyone up. It is universally the case that if you pay peanuts you'll get monkeys, but paying an equal wage for equal work benefits the company and wider society and I don't particularly care if that's lower than I might get if I was willing to work in London (or the Bay Area), so long as I'm not required to work in London (or the Bay Area). |