The comparison was to illustrate that scarcity of expertise absolutely affects pay rate, notwithstanding other explanations. Whether that explains part or most

The comparison was to illustrate that scarcity of expertise absolutely affects pay rate, notwithstanding other explanations. Whether that explains part or most or all of Java dev pay premium is at least debatable. For instance, I would never make the same "throw a rock into a crowd" statement about finding a competent (but not expert) java developer. That alone means I would expect to pay some of a premium for finding them in that crowd. What's the counter argument to scarcity? Alignment with better paying industries, weighted so heavily in that direction that it shows up as a premium for their developers? I mean, if you start getting into the conversations about the obscurity of domains, or supplemental education associated with Java developers either by coincidence or requirement, or general demand, I think you're still commenting about scarcity.