4 ms·

Why do you think the capitalist pay programmers so much?

• omgwtfbyobbq 5y ago
  Because they don't have an alternative. If the supply of programmers was as large as the supply of minimum wage workers pay would drop significantly.
  • credit_guy 5y ago
    That is exactly what capitalism is about. Prices being driven by supply and demand. Companies certainly try to pay the minimum they can get away with, just like workers look for jobs that pay them the maximum they can find. Companies are not generous (although some claim they are), and workers aren't either. But the competition drives the prices and, in the case of jobs, the salaries. If you are productive, you'll be in demand, and you'll be paid handsomely. If you are productive but live in communist Soviet Union, you'll get very close to whatever else gets in a similar job.
    • omgwtfbyobbq 5y ago
      I think you're thinking of a Market Economy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_economy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_economy Capitalism is about the private ownership of the means of production and profits. But yeah, competition for labor (and other things) via differences in wages are attributes of a market economy. Capitalism can be a healthy part of this, but sometimes it isn't. Crony capitalism for instance can provide companies the opportunity to collude so they can artificially suppress wages, which distorts the market economy for labor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_Litigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L...
• ido 5y ago
  Nobody is "glad" to pay programmers that much - they pay as little as they can get away with, which for programmers happens to be a higher floor.
• decebalus1 5y ago
  Because they 'currently' have no choice. Give it a few more decades..