Hacker News Reader

Comment by lukas099 | Hacker News Reader

> Pay is a function of value.

> A very free-market take.

I'd argue that the free-market take would be that pay is a function of supply and demand, not value. As an example, musicians provide a ton of value, but the free market dictates that they aren't paid a lot, because people who would like to make music for a living are a dime a dozen.

View on HN

Fair - I personally don't think either view withstands scrutiny in the HUGE difference in salary between US workers and the rest of the world.

Can you help me understand how you think that ties into the above point?

Given that US and EU wages have about a 3-5x disparity, then you might think a) the US worker is worth that premium, and will fulfil 3-5x of your demand for work as the EU worker, b) you have a need towards hiring in the US (certainly understand this in some cases). Or... c) there is a disparity between supply / demand and salaries - why hire in the US if there is so much cheap supply elsewhere?

Monopoly of US firms in the tech industry, their (possibly irrational) reluctance to go remote (until COVID at least), and US work-visa (H1B) quota restrictions.

Now that chasing growth has gone out of fashion and cutting costs is on the table, I suspect companies might lean more towards hiring cheaper, non-US workforce after the layoffs have settled down.

This just means that there is more demand for US workers. I'm pretty sure businesses aren't paying them that much more out of charity.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com