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This is a fascinating question. My guess is that all industries have different levels of collusion/wage-fixing. If something as big as THE TECH INDUSTRY can get away with colluding to keep a ceiling on wages, then surely every single other smaller industry can as well.

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There are many ways to suppress wages besides wage-fixing collusion. About 25% of American workers have non-compete clauses in their work agreements, for instance.

True, but non competes are mostly unenforceable in California, so that doesn’t account for the situation in the Bay Area.

Only when people decide to fight them. Sadly, many people un-aware of their dubious legality honor them even if they are in fact unenforceable.

The wage gap exists outside of California, and California also happens to be the only state in which non-competes are strictly voided by the courts.

Outside the Californian bubble, they're a big problem.

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