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Yeah Canadian salaries are a joke compared to their American counterparts. Their tech companies need to offer much more competitive salaries if they want a remo

Yeah Canadian salaries are a joke compared to their American counterparts. Their tech companies need to offer much more competitive salaries if they want a remote chance of preventing further brain drain of their talent to the US.

api 5y ago
Why are salaries so low in Canada? The difference for most technical and engineering jobs is huge. It would make sense if the cost of living were lower but it isn’t. Rents and home prices are very high. Tech jobs in lower cost of living places in the US like Kentucky or Michigan often pay much higher than Canadian tech jobs.
- KoftaBob 5y ago
  They're low in Europe too. The first thing I can think of is that American tech companies are generally much bigger than their Canadian and European counterparts, and therefore have much larger resources financially to pay competitive salaries. On top of that, the American tech industry has a huge number of both existing companies and new startups entering the picture due to the entrepreneurial culture and VC funding infrastructure. As a result, the job market in the US is more competitive for talent, whereas Canadian applicants have fewer companies to choose from if they don't want to leave the country, and therefore less leverage for salary.
- blaser-waffle 5y ago
  * Canada only has 38 million people; California alone has 40 mil. It's a large country in terms of space, but not in terms of people. That limits how many domestic customers you can get, and internationally you're fighting with US / EU / Asian firms that can marshal a lot of resources. * Hard emphasis and lobbying by oil and resource extraction groups to continue the focus on resource extraction -- aka "the resource curse" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse * Higher taxes. Why pay you 150k when the gum'mnt (fed + provincial) is just gonna take 57%? Might as well just pay you 90k and then throw bennies or a company car. Also means that the money that the consumer would spend is now going to government use.
johnwalkr 5y ago
Yet cost of living in the major cities is so high!

api 5y ago

Why are salaries so low in Canada? The difference for most technical and engineering jobs is huge. It would make sense if the cost of living were lower but it isn’t. Rents and home prices are very high. Tech jobs in lower cost of living places in the US like Kentucky or Michigan often pay much higher than Canadian tech jobs.

KoftaBob 5y ago
They're low in Europe too. The first thing I can think of is that American tech companies are generally much bigger than their Canadian and European counterparts, and therefore have much larger resources financially to pay competitive salaries. On top of that, the American tech industry has a huge number of both existing companies and new startups entering the picture due to the entrepreneurial culture and VC funding infrastructure. As a result, the job market in the US is more competitive for talent, whereas Canadian applicants have fewer companies to choose from if they don't want to leave the country, and therefore less leverage for salary.
blaser-waffle 5y ago
* Canada only has 38 million people; California alone has 40 mil. It's a large country in terms of space, but not in terms of people. That limits how many domestic customers you can get, and internationally you're fighting with US / EU / Asian firms that can marshal a lot of resources. * Hard emphasis and lobbying by oil and resource extraction groups to continue the focus on resource extraction -- aka "the resource curse" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse * Higher taxes. Why pay you 150k when the gum'mnt (fed + provincial) is just gonna take 57%? Might as well just pay you 90k and then throw bennies or a company car. Also means that the money that the consumer would spend is now going to government use.

johnwalkr 5y ago

Yet cost of living in the major cities is so high!