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The Wage Gap 2

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Re: The Wage Gap 2

#11

Post by P_I_Staker »

malfist wrote: post #2

I'm one of those "discriminated" against here. I live in kentucky, work for a FAANG company. My employer pays me less because of that, and you know what? I'm okay with that. My discretionary income after housing and basic living expenses are removed is way higher than that of someone in a HCOL area. I have a 3300 sqft house that was built in the last 10 years and a quarter acre of land. That costs me $1400/month. If…

Thanks, you're one of the good ones I guess. You must be a mindreader, my (slightly negative) comment was NOT inspired by you :)

I talked about all the entitled rich boys that bought $50k shacks in Kentucky (for $300k), and are now whining that their pay is being clawed back.

Anyway, I got a bit of a kick out of that; what a coincidence.

Re: The Wage Gap 2

#12

Post by ojbyrne »

P_I_Staker wrote: post #6

I'm not sure exactly what he's talking about here. Is he talking about people in other countries not getting USA pay, or different locations getting different pay? At least in the US, things don't always look so unbalanced. Moving to , New York, or Chicago has baggage attached to it. There's other costs an annoyances. I would need a massive salary to consider even trying it. So how would it be unfair to expect more m…

The previous article (linked at the top of the article) talks about "overseas workers." If you look at the blog in its entirety it seems to be a screed every year (or 2 or 4) railing against the "the ruling class."

I don't think there's a lot of value to be found here.

Re: The Wage Gap 2

#13

Post by Ekaros »

malfist wrote: post #2

I'm one of those "discriminated" against here. I live in kentucky, work for a FAANG company. My employer pays me less because of that, and you know what? I'm okay with that. My discretionary income after housing and basic living expenses are removed is way higher than that of someone in a HCOL area. I have a 3300 sqft house that was built in the last 10 years and a quarter acre of land. That costs me $1400/month. If…

People very much miss why they are getting paid so much. It is because they are in HCOL area with lot of competition. Thus employers are forced to pay a lot to get warm bodies there. For some reason they have wanted them there...

Now, if work can be done else where, magically the supply increases, go figure. So they don't need to pay so much. Instead they can pick someone else for less.

For me, I consider the high pay a payment for living somewhere I don't want to or cost lot to live. If I don't live there I get less.

Re: The Wage Gap 2

#14

Post by mym1990 »

malfist wrote: post #7
mym1990 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is part of the dilemma(and I am not arguing right or wrong here), but there will be a subset of employees who are okay with giving ground to the employer on this issue, in exchange for job security and some financial security. And this ultimately takes away some of the ground from the people trying to fight the inequality. I believe economics will have the last say in the long run.

Is it an inequality though? Everyone's seen the baseball game equality comic with the different high people. Equality is when everyone can see the ballgame, not that everyone gets the same height boxes to stand on. I'd argue that this is the same here. I'm the "taller" person because my cost of living is lower, if you give me the same size box (income) as the person in the HCOL area, they might not be equal to me, be…

In the literal term, I think it is inequality if one is just comparing the salary numbers. BUT, once variables start to get added(location, personal preferences, the availability of replacements) then you start getting into murkier territory. There are also significant impacts of standardizing pay across regions. There will obviously be a flow of people from HCOL > LCOL/MCOL areas, consumption will increase, local inflation will happen...these things benefit some groups and hurt others. No idea how it would all shake out in the end though.

Re: The Wage Gap 2

#15

Post by hollywood_court »

P_I_Staker wrote: post #6

I'm not sure exactly what he's talking about here. Is he talking about people in other countries not getting USA pay, or different locations getting different pay? At least in the US, things don't always look so unbalanced. Moving to , New York, or Chicago has baggage attached to it. There's other costs an annoyances. I would need a massive salary to consider even trying it. So how would it be unfair to expect more m…

I’m one of those people who already made their money and then moved to a LCOL area. It was supposed to be temporary, but I met my wife and she won’t move because of her family so we’re here to stay.

We have zero debt. I paid off our mortgage in about 5 years. I put money aside for my son’s education the day she told me she was pregnant. We’ve spent the last 10 years spending less than 40% of our combined income annually and now we’re reaping the rewards.

I am fortunate enough to not have to work at age 40, but I do need some kind of obligation to keep me content so I plan to have a remote web dev job by the end of the year.

I would be perfectly fine taking a lower wage due to my location. And that might make me more attractive to employers.

Re: The Wage Gap 2

#16

Post by scarmig »

malfist wrote: post #4
jmoak3 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey I’m in KY at a FAANG too! Happy to take the pay cut, I don't see how I could have the life I want in the Bay even at 100% pay. I’m buying later this year, really thankful I grew up in a place where I can easily settle down, and I’m looking forward to passing that on someday.

There's dozens of us!

I would bet 100+ people at a FAANG work remotely in Kentucky (excluding Amazon fulfillment center work). Based off of one that has ~40 remote Kentuckians.

Re: The Wage Gap 2

#17

Post by mym1990 »

BlargMcLarg wrote: post #9
mym1990 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is part of the dilemma(and I am not arguing right or wrong here), but there will be a subset of employees who are okay with giving ground to the employer on this issue, in exchange for job security and some financial security. And this ultimately takes away some of the ground from the people trying to fight the inequality. I believe economics will have the last say in the long run.

Ultimately, I'd be far, far more concerned about a race to the bottom. That race to the bottom is possible regardless of location-based pay or not. Once people discover how to navigate remote work across big timezone differences en masse and mentality shifts, things will truly get interesting.

Is this from a consumer or producer standpoint(or both)? A race to the bottom ultimately hurts everyone. In a simplistic world, if wages go down, people will consume less, causing decreased revenue. Its in the best interest for companies to have a competitive wage floor that still allows for quality goods and services to be created.

Remote work will certainly shift dynamics, I am quite interested in if the concept of 'hybrid' work will take off, and how that would shape cities/communities.

Re: The Wage Gap 2

#18

Post by jmoak3 »

scarmig wrote: post #16
malfist wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's dozens of us!

I would bet 100+ people at a FAANG work remotely in Kentucky (excluding Amazon fulfillment center work). Based off of one that has ~40 remote Kentuckians.

When’s the meetup? :P

Re: The Wage Gap 2

#19

Post by causi »

mym1990 wrote: post #17
BlargMcLarg wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ultimately, I'd be far, far more concerned about a race to the bottom. That race to the bottom is possible regardless of location-based pay or not. Once people discover how to navigate remote work across big timezone differences en masse and mentality shifts, things will truly get interesting.

Is this from a consumer or producer standpoint(or both)? A race to the bottom ultimately hurts everyone. In a simplistic world, if wages go down, people will consume less, causing decreased revenue. Its in the best interest for companies to have a competitive wage floor that still allows for quality goods and services to be created. Remote work will certainly shift dynamics, I am quite interested in if the concept of…

A race to the bottom ultimately hurts everyone.

It's already a race to the bottom. It's just the fact that "doing the job well" hasn't been the only factor in the race. Strip off "being able to move to and tolerate living in the right place" and the race gets a lot more fair in my opinion.

Re: The Wage Gap 2

#20

Post by pyrodactyl »

malfist wrote: post #2

I'm one of those "discriminated" against here. I live in kentucky, work for a FAANG company. My employer pays me less because of that, and you know what? I'm okay with that. My discretionary income after housing and basic living expenses are removed is way higher than that of someone in a HCOL area. I have a 3300 sqft house that was built in the last 10 years and a quarter acre of land. That costs me $1400/month. If…

I am the original poster from the post linked in this article.

I know these as a fact that a comparable property in my city would cost me much more than what you're paying. All the while I'm getting payed less than half of my colleagues living in your area.

And there are many other costs that are comparable eg. electronics, vehicles and education.

All this is to say that location based pay is not about cost of living, its about getting away with paying as little as possible.

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