"Because the money for salaries is not generated out of thin air. It gets determined by the profit-margin provided by the market." While this is true, it's als

"Because the money for salaries is not generated out of thin air. It gets determined by the profit-margin provided by the market." While this is true, it's also very much not my problem. If your company is offering X, and another company is offering 1.25X, then most of the good people are going to go to the other company first. And it would be quite dishonest of you to say that there's a "shortage" when it turns out you just don't want to pay as much as the competition for your talent.