Salaries are high in the Bay area because of the competition for talent from companies with a need to scale and the resources to pay for it. Currently, remote

Salaries are high in the Bay area because of the competition for talent from companies with a need to scale and the resources to pay for it. Currently, remote employees in the middle of nowhere are in local markets without companies with such a burning need to scale and with fewer resources to pay for it. Their BATNA seems to be not much good, so their employer can pay them less now. Right? I'm not so sure. Won't other side of the remote coin, remote employers, increase competition for remote workers such that they push up pay, particularly if they can identify talent or acceptable proxies thereof? What does BigTech do when Joe Hotshot, who had their remote work request accepted along with pay cut, gets a better offer from LargeCo? Market forces is what happens, IMO. I think a likely outcome from all this is increasing inequality - higher salaries for the most talented people, who are competed for globally, and lower salaries further down the curve, where there are more people of equivalent talent in lower cost locations. I also think some degree of co-location actually matters, though. Time zone especially.