This ignores obvious regulations around freedom of movement. There is not actually one global market for programmers. 1. Even remote-first companies are likely

This ignores obvious regulations around freedom of movement. There is not actually one global market for programmers. 1. Even remote-first companies are likely to want to all gather together once in a while. 2. It's easy to run afowl of things like American crypto export restrictions when doing work in a foreign country 3. Startups are going to want to prefer working with local people because you can simply get more done working in a room with someone than via slack / zoom / etc. Moreover, hiring a single employee gives you more leverage than hiring an outsourcing firm. 4. Remote, foreign employees are going to be independent contractors, because actually complying with 50 different employment laws is really really hard. 5. Even if an employee is hired in a foreign country, that country's laws may lower the salary. For example, taxes vary by country. Payroll tax is higher in Europe than America, thus companies may be spending the same amount, but the employee receiving less. Similarly, in countries like India (and some in Europe too), there are much stricter requirements on when you can fire employees, whereas in many US states, like California, employment is at-will. This would also be expected to lower salaries in areas where more employees could easily become a liability.