Employees tend to get paid on the basis of supply and demand in the labor market. The value you create just puts a ceiling on the equilibrium pay. Simple thou

Employees tend to get paid on the basis of supply and demand in the labor market. The value you create just puts a ceiling on the equilibrium pay. Simple thought experiment. I have a button that creates a million dollars anytime it's pressed. How much should/do I need to pay for somebody to sit there and press it all day? In fact you can probably pay minimum wage because low skill work and easy to find people. That being said, as an employee you can leverage the unique value you provide into higher pay, assuming you're able to persuade your employer. E.g. imagine you could press the button twice as fast as anybody else... Suddenly you're in a strong position to negotiate for a million dollars per press. But the value you provide has to be unique relative to the labor market. Looking at unique value, and ability to convince others of that unique value, is more relevant than the absolute value you create.