This is a pretty simple topic if you have a good understanding of what enabled developers to pull in large comps, and what kinds of employers pay such comps. I comment on comp threads on HN frequently and don't want to rehash my entire advice, but I can illustrate one example that can be generalized to Europe and America.
Consider two hypothetical employers:
Employer 1:
- We want to hire only the best.
- We expect people to care about the company and act like owners.
- We expect people to flex in and out of different roles.
- We fire underperformers.
Employer 2:
- We state exact technical qualifications for our roles.
- We hire anyone who adequately meets the qualifications.
- We don't expect people to do anything not in the job description.
- We don't expect people to care about the company, it's just a job.
- We never fire anyone.
I hope it's clear that you can make a lot more money at #1 than #2. #1 may be a FAANG and #2 may be your state's Motor Vehicles department. I also hope it's clear that #2 sounds very mainstream European in its attitude towards work while #1 oozes American exceptionalism.
In short, there's no way to raise comp without employers competing for talent but that would basically mean a complete change in employer/employee expectations.
So what happens to European developers who are good/aggressive enough to work for a place like #1? They find it in London and New York.
For what it's worth I am a dual EU/US citizen living in NYC, and my previous job took me a lot to our London office which was primarily staffed with European developers who left Europe exactly for the reasons I described.